Trade by the SA Customs Union (SACU) within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is expected to start in a few months. Read original article

  Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making a profound difference in our lives, even if we do not always realize its overwhelming presence around us. Even the construction industry, generally regarded as a laggard in the adoption of cutting-edge technology, surprisingly has been quick to warm up to AI. According to an article by Construct Connect published April 12, 2022, resistance to change to digital experiences and the many manual, repetitive tasks hobble the industry with project delays, cost inefficiencies, and undermined productivity, health, and safety performance. Resistance to change to digital experiences and the many manual, repetitive tasks hobble the construction industry with project delays, cost inefficiencies, and undermined productivity, health, and safety performance Using artificial intelligence can be an important first step to addressing Africa’s infrastructure gap by allowing policymakers to benefit from having better information at their disposal and making more informed decisions AI’s impact on improving workplace safety and productivity is likely to be several orders of magnitude larger than its potential impact on job losses Using artificial intelligence can be an important first step to addressing Africa’s infrastructure gap by allowing policymakers to benefit from having better information at their disposal and making more informed decisions. The construction industry is ready to receive the potential process, health, safety, and production benefits from developing and implementing artificial intelligence. AI is changing every aspect of the infrastructure development process from predicting demand for new construction projects to designing materials and even constructing buildings. A related article by Business World published...

Standard Bank Africa says Namibia finds it easier to trade in Africa than the rest of the world. According to the Standard Bank Trade Barometer report for June 2022, Namibia had the highest score of 27% compared to 10 other countries in the “very easy” section in Africa against 13% for the rest of the world. However, it is not only Namibia that is struggling to penetrate international markets, as Africa’s largest economy Nigeria also finds it most difficult to trade with the rest of the world, scoring 43% in that category. “This Africa Trade Barometer report is one of the most comprehensive research reports on the state of trade on the African continent as experienced on the ground by real African businesses,” said Bill Blackie, the Standard Bank’s Business and Commercial Clients division Chief Executive. The report offers a comparative view of the enablers and challenges to facilitating trade across 10 key African markets, he added. Data were collected principally from the World Bank, although underlying data sources ranged from the International Monetary Fund and the International Trade Centre to country central banks. According to the report, tariffs are a major obstacle to trade within Africa and the rest of the world, while forex restrictions and controls are seen as less severe obstacles to trading. Notable obstacles to trading in Africa include customs and trade regulations, power outages, and customs requirements (top three obstacles). “In the rest of the world, severe trading obstacles include customs and trade regulations, customs...

Increased intra-African trade is an effective option to pave the way for post-Covid-19 economic recovery and food security. The COVID-19 epidemic threw Africa’s growth trajectory off course. African nations have attempted to unilaterally liberalize trade and participate in free trade and regional integration agreements. Nations launched the AfCFTA as one of the actions made to support more extensive intra-African trade. The sweeping effects of Covid-19  The health and economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically raised the number of individuals living in severe poverty in Africa. In 2010, Africa’s extreme poverty threshold was 40.2 per cent, with a poverty level of US$1.90 daily in purchasing power parity, and it had dropped to 34.1 per cent by 2019. Nonetheless, this percentage drop in poverty incidence was insufficient to lower the overall number of poor individuals. Given the growth in population size, the number of individuals living in severe poverty in Africa grew from 408 million to 442 million between 2010 and 2019. The economic and health implications of the COVID-19 pandemic forced 27 million more people into extreme poverty in Africa in 2020 compared to 2019 and almost 51 million compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. The COVID-19 epidemic threw Africa’s growth trajectory off course. The epidemic had a significant socioeconomic toll, threatening the existence of half of the continent’s micro, small, and medium-sized companies (MSMEs). Four out of every five African enterprises saw a significant drop in revenue. As African nations relaunched their economies and phased away COVID-19 limitations, the repercussions of the Ukraine crisis...

In pursuit of accelerating large-scale trade and business development, a number of African countries have been chosen to begin exchanging goods and services under the the the new African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The continental free trade is planned to operate within the framework of the African Union Agenda 2063. The AfCFTA makes trade between African countries easier by providing new export opportunities for African countries’ products and services to trade with each other without tariffs or other hindrances, and thus driving an improved access to the biggest market space and ultimately lead to sustainable economic growth. Now the continental trading is about to operate as a platform for creating and strengthening ties between business communities, it highlights the readiness of the business environment and its priority potential development for the Africa. Under the agreement with partners and shareholders, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has chosen about eight African countries including Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda, Tanzania and Tunisia that will soon start trading. The move is part of efforts to diversify and increase export among African countries through Export Trading Companies (ETCs) while achieving the continent’s industrialization drive and make it economically self-reliant. Herbert Krapa, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry (MoTI), said at a seminar to sensitize African countries on the role of ETCs in easing intra-African trade under the AfCFTA in Accra, Ghana, that the Secretariat had launched the AfCFTA Initiative on Guided Trade to translate all the progress on paper into action...

The East African Business Council, COMESA and SADC Business Council have officially launched and formed the African Tripartite Business Council to spearhead the inclusion of private sector policy proposals into the negotiations of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and the African Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA). This is one of the resolutions from the Consultative Meeting of Regional Business Councils on the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement organized by the East African Business Council (EABC) with support from TradeMark Africa (TMA). “The African Tripartite Business Council will put forward joint private sector policy positions to the AfCFTA Secretariat in Ghana and Tripartite Ministerial Council Meetings in order to accelerate the implementation of the Agreements,” said, Mr. John Bosco Kalisa, EABC CEO. Mr. Kalisa called upon the Member States from COMESA, the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) to ratify the Tripartite Free Trade Area to achieve the threshold of 14 ratifications required to enable the Agreement to enter into force. Mr. Dickson Poloji, CEO of COMESA Business Council said, “It is important for the private sector to be knowledgeable of the trade instruments of Rules of Origin, Standards and Dispute Settlement Mechanism under the AfCFTA” He elaborated that the implementation committees of the AfCFTA should be co-chaired by the private sector. On his part, Mr Peter Varndell-CEO, SADC Business Council said “The African Tripartite Business Council will improve coordination and development of positions on AfTCFA policy formulation and...

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has launched an online hub to ease trade on the African continent The AfCFTA Hub is a focal point for national governments, intergovernmental, private, and public organisations It links the parties together to make way for SMEs and startups to drive the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has launched an online hub to ease trade on the African continent. The AfCFTA Hub is a focal point for national governments, and intergovernmental, private, and public organisations. It links the parties together to make way for SMEs and startups to drive the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area. The online hub is designed to grow into a single, trusted directory of the services needed to navigate the AfCFTA for small players, thereby making the AfCFTA the most inclusive Free Trade Area in the world. The AfCFTA Hub also powers the “AfCFTA Number”, trusted identity and social score for all SMEs, startups and other AfCFTA players. “It is important to ensure the centrality of SMEs, startups and female entrepreneurs as we strive to build the world’s most inclusive, most innovative and most integrated Single Market,” said Wamkele Mene, Secretary General AfCFTA. Kenya is one of the seven countries that have been selected to start trading under the AfCFTA framework in a pilot phase to test the environmental, legal and trade policy basis for intra-African trade. The AfCFTA Hub platform and ongoing engagements...

While the Federal Government of Nigeria has for years been nursing the idea of introducing the electronic single window platform for cargo clearing at the ports, shippers in East African countries and Singapore are reaping the benefits of such a facility. The single window is a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements. Read original article

The UK has launched a scheme to cut tariffs on hundreds of products from some of the world's poorest countries to try to boost trade links. The preferential terms, which come into effect early next year, will affect products ranging from food to textiles. Under the Developing Countries Trading Scheme, 99% of goods imported from Africa will be duty free. Ministers say the scheme helps to fulfil the post-Brexit pledge to take back control of the country's trade policy while also reducing dependence on aid. Read original article

A survey conducted by the Ghana International Trade and Conference (GITFic) on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiative has revealed that increased sensitisation is crucial to ensure businesses reap the benefits of the programme. Ninety per cent of the respondents said the AfCFTA was relevant and more education was needed on the programme. Also, 65 per cent of the respondents indicated that the implementation of the AfCFTA would have beneficial effects on their business. The survey was to assess the views of the business community in the country with regards to the framework of the AfCFTA and the designation of Accra as the “commercial capital of Africa “. The objective of the AfCFTA is to eliminate barriers to trade in Africa to significantly boost intra-Africa trade particularly trade in value-added production and trade across all sectors of Africa’s economy. Addressing the media here on Thursday on the findings of the survey, the Lead Researcher, Gerald Woode, said it was undertaken within a period of 12 weeks from February 2022 to April 2022 and was conducted in six regions namely Greater Accra, Ashanti, Volta, Northern and Eastern regions of the country with a total of 4,800 questionnaires administered to business enterprises. He said 34 per cent of the respondents had not heard about the AfCFTA with majority of the respondents, 18.6 percent who gained information about AfCFTA from the radio and television. The Lead Researcher said, he was optimistic that the findings of the survey, which was also aimed...