The Deputy Chairperson of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) 2023 Advisory Council and a former President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Jean-Louis Ekra, has said that commitment of African leaders to the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement can break Africa’s colonial legacy of exporting raw materials and importing finished goods.
The seasoned banker, who made this remark at the ongoing Trade and Investment Conference (IATF) 2023 began in Cairo, Egypt, in his opening remarks, pointed out the the non-sustainability of African economies relying on natural resources and commodities, saying that this dependence subjected the countries to vulnerable to adverse trade shocks, liquidity constraints and macroeconomic management challenges.
Ekra, while arguing that the situation needed to be urgently addressed, especially as the shocks had worsened the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions and climate change, maintained that “AfCFTA cannot fail, especially given that intra-African trade is estimated at 16 per cent” which was not compatible with other regions’ rates.
According to him, the low level of intra-African trade can be linked to sundry constraints such as limited trade and infrastructure including payments and settlement systems, lack of access to relevant market information, limited knowledge about business, sustained investment opportunities and limited platforms to connect buyers and sellers.
To reverse, the ugly situation, the leading banker and economic analyst urged African leaders to recognise that the AfCFTA was the missing link the continent needed and that it presented many trade and investment opportunities in manufacturing, export development, SME promotion and trade in services.
During a panel on energy transition and industrialisation in Africa, Dr. Ainojie Irune, Chief Operating Officer of Oando Energy Resources, stressed the need for African leaders to be more impatient about developing the continent, arguing that energy is crucial to Africa’s development and the transition should benefit Africa where 40 per cent of the population live without electricity.
In her remarks, Afreximbank’s Director of Projects and Asset-Based Finance, Ms. Helen Brume, said that any discussion about transitioning to cleaner energy sources must consider that 600 million Africans still lacked access to electricity while 900 million do not have access to clean energy sources for cooking.
