Economic Thoughts
The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is one of the hottest topics in the continent in 2020. Rightly so as its implementation commences in July 2020. We notice that though there has been various discussions on the topic, not much light has been shone from the trade finance per-spective. This report seeks to point out to policy makers and the implementation committee the need to have a holistic and strategic trade finance framework as this is critical for the successful imple-mentation of the AfCFTA and for Nigeria to gain competitive advantage amongst its peers.
Africa’s share of global trade is increasing, despite being relatively low at 4.4%.
Africa is still greatly dependent on the global economy. About 80-90% of trade over the last 17 years has been conducted with trade partners outside the region. Whereas industrialised coun-tries trade more within their regions, Africa has remained much more vulnerable and has not been able to consolidate on made-in-Africa goods.