Crystal Ball Africa To Boost Intra-Africa Trade By 2020

African businesses are projecting that trade among them across the continent should improve significantly at least within the next two years with the coming into force of the Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA).

The Trade Agreement, seeks to allow businesses, easy access to African countries to support their growth and expansion.

Currently, trade among African countries is estimated at 11 percent compared to the 70 percent in the Europe Union.

Though the agreement has been considered by African leaders since 2015, it is yet to see any concrete action for businesses to tap into the numerous benefits it presents.

But speaking to Citi Business News on the matter, a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah maintained that the move should also boost the market share of Ghanaian businesses.

“What we see here is a situation where we will have the opportunity to compete with the Asian Tigers and of course the Indians and also to be able to competitively send our products outside the borders of our country and continent to have an external visibility and also to be able to drive foreign investments into the continent,” he assured.

Mr Ahenkorah also revealed that African leaders are expected to sign the agreement by March 2018.

This is expected to set the implementation in motion for the various businesses.

“Latest by the end of March, leaders of Africa should be signing this document into action and by 2020 we should see a remarkable development where we will be heading towards the 2063 achievements or the goals.”

The Deputy Minister was speaking at the sidelines of the 2018 edition of the Crystal Ball Africa event.

This year’s edition which marks the 5^th in the series, brought together key business owners, policy makers as well as international donor partners to discuss the outlook for African businesses in 2018.

The event also looked at some six issues that will shape the business environment for the rest of 2018.

The Crystal Ball Africa 2018 was organized by AB&David Law firm.

It was on the theme, “Expanding Businesses and Trade across Africa- Opportunities Arising out of the Continental Free Trade Africa (CFTA) and Growing intra-Africa Trade”.