AfCFTA is Now Operational: What to Expect in the First Few Months
by Pomy Ketema, Counsel, Baker McKenzie, New York
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is one of the largest trading blocs in the world with the majority of African countries now operating under its preferential trade framework. Trading under AfCFTA commenced on January 1, 2021 under a liberalized trade regime that would gradually lead to an integrated continental market with tariffs phased out on 97% of tariff lines within 10 to 13 years.
AfCFTA covers both goods and services, and provides a platform for individual countries or regional economic communities (RECs), as applicable, to engage in intra-African trade, through offers of tariff concessions and service commitments with reciprocal most-favored-nation treatment. There is already a degree of liberalized trade and integra...
