- Project to Build a Dual Carriageway on Kiambu Road in Kenya
- Kasanga port in Tanzania to expand capacity
- The Old Mombasa Road will be upgraded to meet the requirements of the Nairobi Expressway.
- Tanzania would be one of the top economies in 2023
- Project Timeline and Information for the Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway (SGR)
- Tanzania exceeds expectations, according to the global innovation index
- AIIF4 invested USD 34 million and supports Kenyan Road Annuity Programme
- Anchor Developments plans to launch in 2022 or 2023 with an investment of EGP 10 Billion
- FSD Eyeing Ethiopian Investment Opportunities; CEO Demands Peace Agreement to Boost Economic Growth
- Tanzania's Bagamoyo Port will be expanded as part of the largest project in East Africa
Economic 'game changer'? African leaders launch free-trade zone
NIAMEY (Reuters) - African leaders launched a continental free-trade zone on Sunday that if successful would unite 1.3 billion people, create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc and usher in a new era of development.
After four years of talks, an agreement to form a 55-nation trade bloc was reached in March, paving the way for Sunday’s African Union summit in Niger where Ghana was announced as the host of the trade zone’s future headquarters and discussions were held on how exactly the bloc will operate.
It is hoped that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) - the largest since the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1994 - will help unlock Africa’s long-stymied economic potential by boosting intra-regional trade, strengthening supply chains and spreading expertise.
“The eyes of the world are turned towards Africa,” Egyptian President and African Union Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said at the summit’s opening ceremony.
“The success of the AfCFTA will be the real test to achieve the economic growth that will turn our people’s dream of welfare and quality of life into a reality,” he said.
Africa has much catching up to do: its intra-regional trade accounted for just 17% of exports in 2017 versus 59% in Asia and 69% in Europe, and Africa has missed out on the economic booms that other trade blocs have experienced in recent decades.
Economists say significant challenges remain, including poor road and rail links, large areas of unrest, excessive border bureaucracy and petty corruption that have held back growth and integration.
Members have committed to eliminate tariffs on most goods, which will increase trade in the region by 15-25% in the medium term, but this would more than double if these other issues were dealt with, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates.
The IMF in a May report described the free-trade zone as a potential “economic game changer” of the kind that has boosted growth in Europe and North America, but it added a note of caution.
“Reducing tariffs alone is not sufficient,” it said.
Posted on : 13 Sep,2019
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