Professor Kingsley Moghalu, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Advisory Board at the Africa Private Sector Summit, has stated that when fully implemented, the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, will lift 30 million Africans, including Nigerians, out of poverty by 2035.
Moghalu made this known yesterday during the AfCFTA Joint Private Sector Session at the 2023 Afreximbank Intra-African Trade Fair in Cairo, Egypt.
According to him:
“As of August 2023, 47 out of 54 African countries have ratified the treaty. When fully implemented, the AfCFTA will boost intra-African trade by 52%, lift 30 million people out of poverty, and increase the continent’s GDP by USD 450 billion by 2035.”
He pointed out that the anticipated quantum leap from the impact of AfCFTA is not exaggerated because Africa trades far less within itself than other continents.
He stated:
“It is no accident that these continents are the wealthiest in the world: 70% of Europe’s trade is within Europe. 59% of Asia’s, and 30% of North America’s trade is intra-regional. In contrast, only 16% of Africa’s global trade is within Africa.”
Moghalu, on the other hand, stated that AfCTA targets simply cannot be met without the private sector.
While governments have signed and ratified the AfCFTA, companies and business enterprises trade across Africa far more than governments.
“This means that the African private sector must be strengthened to leverage the provisions and protocols of the AfCFTA to expand intra-African trade to create prosperity.
“Two critical conditions must be met. The first is an understanding across all stakeholder groups of the balance between the state and the markets in wealth creation. While it ultimately is the private sector that will directly unlock prosperity for Africa, and Africans are broadly enterprising people, the truth is that without effective governments, governance and public policy, they can’t. Every prosperous country has a competent, effective state as a backdrop,” he added.
cc: Vanguard Ng
