Assessing Regional Integration in Africa

Assessing Regional Integration in Africa
Author: United Nations. Economic Commission for Africa
Publisher: United Nations, Economic Commission for Africa
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2004
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

This publication examines progress towards regional integration in Africa; defined as one of the anchoring ideals of African unity and the basis for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) development framework. The report analyses the current state of the integration process, highlighting where efforts have succeeded or failed. Findings include that progress has been mixed across sectors, regional economic communities and member states; with some notable progress in trade, communications, transport and macroeconomic policy. Overall however, substantial gaps remain between goals and achievements of most regional economic communities, particularly in terms of internal African trade, macroeconomic policy convergence, production and physical connectivity. A summary report is also available (ISBN 9211250927)

Economic Development in Africa Report 2019

Economic Development in Africa Report 2019
Author: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1901
Genre:
ISBN: 9789210039741

The advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) represents a historic opportunity for the continent to boost intra-African trade and accelerate structural transformation. However, this relies on a critical policy instrument: the effective implementation of preferential trade liberalization among the AfCFTA members. Whether in practice African firms will utilize tariff preferences under the AfCFTA depends on a critical factor: rules of origin (RoO) and the net benefits of complying with them. The Economic Development in Africa Report 2019 argues for the adoption of flexible RoO and a strengthening of institutional capacities to ensure an impartial, transparent, predictable, consistent and neutral implementation of agreed RoO.

Framework for boosting intra-African trade in agricultural commodities and services

Framework for boosting intra-African trade in agricultural commodities and services
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2021-02-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9251339147

The African agricultural and food market is expanding quickly as indicated by World Bank projections that show that the value of Africa’s agriculture and agribusiness industry is expected to more than triple to reach USD 1 trillion by 2030, compared to 2010 (World Bank, 2013). This provides an opportunity to not only boost trade in food and non-food agricultural commodities and services within the continent but also enhance food security in Africa. Regional integration is also gaining momentum as evidenced by progress in the creation of customs unions and the initial steps in setting up a common external tariff at the regional level in a number of regional economic communities (RECs) such as the East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) further reinforces the gains achieved in regional integration and opens new market opportunities for farmers and other economic operators.It has been shown that the export of higher value-added products made in Africa is greater in regional markets than in external markets outside Africa, which are typically dominated by raw material exports. However, more than a decade after the adoption of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in Maputo in 2003 by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in response to the stagnation of African agriculture, Africa continues to remain a marginal player, accounting for only 2.7 percent of world trade in goods and 5 percent of world agricultural trade (Bouët and Odjo, 2019).These figures are likely to trend downwards significantly in the near term due to the economic shock caused by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The continent currently depends to a significant degree on extra-African sources for imports of food and agricultural products. The share of intra-African agricultural trade has been consistently below 20 percent in recent decades (Bouët and Odjo, 2019; AGRA, 2019). Comparable figures for intraregional agricultural trade are higher for Asia and Europe (more than 60 percent).

Inclusive Trade in Africa

Inclusive Trade in Africa
Author: David Luke
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2019-04-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0429684754

Providing the first book-length analysis of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), this volume asks how can it be ensured that the AfCFTA is effectively implemented to deliver inclusive trade in Africa. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will cover an African market of 1.2 billion people and GDP of over $2.5 trillion, across all 55 member States of the African Union. Yet, trade policy increasingly appreciates that free trade is not enough; trade must also be inclusive to deliver developmental benefits. With contributions from leading trade policy authors across Africa and beyond, this book offers insights into the development and implementation of the AfCFTA and serves as a reference for stakeholders interested in trade in Africa more broadly. The contributors assess what important lessons can be drawn from the experiences of regional integration in and beyond Africa, including from success stories like ASEAN as well as from failures like the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. An important new work for researchers and policymakers focusing on African trade and economic policy, and trade policy more generally.

The African Continental Free Trade Area: Potential Economic Impact and Challenges

The African Continental Free Trade Area: Potential Economic Impact and Challenges
Author: Mr.Lisandro Abrego
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 41
Release: 2020-05-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513542370

Political momentum towards Africa-wide free trade has been intensifying. In March 2018, over 40 countries signed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. Once fully implemented, the AfCFTA is expected to cover all 55 African countries, with a combined GDP of about US$2.2 trillion. This SDN takes stock of recent trade developments in Sub-Saharan Africa and assesses the potential benefits and costs of the AfCFTA, as well as challenges to its successful implementation. In addition to increased trade flows both in existing and new products, the AfCFTA has the potential to generate substantial economic benefits for African countries. These benefits include higher income arising from increased efficiency and productivity from improved resource allocation, higher cross-border investment flows, and technology transfers. Besides lowering import tariffs, to ensure these benefits, African countries will need reduce other trade barriers by making more efficient their customs procedures, reducing their wide infrastructure gaps, and improving their business climates. At the same time, policy measures should be taken to mitigate the differential impact of trade liberalization on certain groups as resources are reallocated in the economy and activities migrate to locations with comparatively lower costs.

African Perspectives on Trade and the WTO

African Perspectives on Trade and the WTO
Author: Patrick Low
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016-09-29
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9781316626528

Twenty-first century Africa is in a process of economic transformation, but challenges remain in areas such as structural reform, governance, commodity pricing and geopolitics. This book looks into key questions facing the continent, such as how Africa can achieve deeper integration into the rules-based multilateral trading system and the global economy. It provides a range of perspectives on the future of the multilateral trading system and Africa's participation in global trade and underlines the supportive roles that can be played by multilateral and regional institutions during such a rapid and uncertain transition. This volume is based on contributions to the Fourth China Round Table on WTO Accessions and the Multilateral Trading System, which took place just before the World Trade Organization's Tenth Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in December 2015.

Assessing Regional Integration in Africa V

Assessing Regional Integration in Africa V
Author:
Publisher: UN
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

The fifth of the series (ARIA/V) has come at a time of renewed enthusiasm for shortening the period of the vision of the Abuja Treaty. Its overall objective is to provide an analytical research publication that defines frameworks for African Governments, the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities, towards accelerating the establishment of the African Common Market through: the speedy removal of all tariff and non-tariff barriers, obstacles to free movement of people, investments and factors of production in general across Africa, and through fast-tracking the creation of an African continental Free Trade Area

Informal cross-border trade in Africa: How much? Why? And what impact?

Informal cross-border trade in Africa: How much? Why? And what impact?
Author: Bouet, Antoine
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 56
Release: 2018-12-21
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Informal cross-border trade (ICBT) represents a prominent phenomenon in Africa. Several studies suggest that for certain products and countries, the value of informal trade may meet or even exceed the value of formal trade. This paper provides a review of existing efforts to measure informal trade. We list 18 initiatives aimed at measuring ICBT in Africa. The paper also summarizes discussions conducted with many stakeholders in Africa between December 2016 and May 2018 regarding the measurement, the determinants, and the implications of ICBT. The methodologies used to measure ICBT in Africa differ widely, but they do confirm that informal trade in Africa is both sizeable and volatile. Both evidence on the determinants of ICBT and discussions with stakeholders suggest that policies should aim to reduce the existing costs associated with formal trade and provide positive incentives for traders and producers to move into the formal economy in order to avoid the loss of economic potential stemming from informal trade.

Twilight of the Money Gods

Twilight of the Money Gods
Author: John Rapley
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 568
Release: 2017-07-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1471152774

Imagine one day you went to a cash-machine and found your money was gone. You rushed to your branch, where a teller said that overnight people had stopped believing in money, and it all vanished. Seem incredible? It happened, and it could happen again. Twilight of the Money Gods is the story of economics, told not as the science it strove to be, but as the religion it became. Over two centuries, it searched for the hidden codes which would reveal the path to a promised land of material abundance. While its prophets, from Adam Smith to John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman, concerned themselves with the human condition, its priesthood gradually grew remote from its followers, until it lost sight of their tribulations. Today, amid a crisis of faith in their expertise, we must re-imagine an economics for a new era - one filled with both danger and opportunity.

Assessing Regional Integration in Africa IX

Assessing Regional Integration in Africa IX
Author: United Nations
Publisher: UN
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2021-01-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9789211251371

Signed by 52 African countries, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is, by the number of participating countries, the largest trade agreement since the formation of the WTO. This report recognizes that it is not enough for the AfCFTA to be merely negotiated, concluded and ratified. It must also change lives, reduce poverty and contribute to economic development. For this, the AfCFTA must be effectively operationalized, but also supported with complementary measures that leverage it as a vehicle for economic development. Among the most important of the next steps is the phase II negotiations scheduled to commence on intellectual property rights, investment and competition policy in late 2019.