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CBZ Holdings Limited Group chief executive officer Mr Lawrence Nyazema has said that full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could result in significant income gains and boost African trade, particularly intraregional trade-in Manufacturing and Zimbabwe stands to reap vast benefits.
Addressing a Zimbabwe Business Networking Forum co-hosted by Financial Markets Indaba and CBZ Holdings Limited in London last Thursday, Mr Nyazema said the AfCFTA agreement will create the largest free trade area in the world measured by the number of countries participating.
The pact connects 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) valued at US$3.4 trillion.
“It has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty, but achieving its full potential will depend on putting in place significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures. Real income gains from full implementation of AfCFTA could increase by 7 percent by 2035, or nearly US$450 billion (in 2014 prices and market exchange rates).
“At the very high end are Côte d’Ivoire and Zimbabwe with estimated income gains of 14 percent each, AfCFTA would significantly boost African trade, particularly intraregional trade in the manufacturing,” said Mr Nyazema.
He said the volume of total exports would increase by almost 29 percent by 2035 relative to the baseline adding that intracontinental exports would increase by over 81 percent, while exports to non-African countries would rise by 19 percent.
Zimbabwe is one of the pioneer countries that embraced the AfCFTA.
AfCFTA is one of the flagship projects of ‘Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want’ and provides a framework for increased regional production and exports.
By eliminating barriers to trade in Africa, the objective of the AfCFTA is to significantly boost intra-Africa trade, particularly trade in value-added production and trade across all sectors of Africa’s economy.
Financial Markets Indaba (FMI) is a global investment conferencing platform and has over the past eight years facilitated successful investment roadshows in different countries on behalf of several governments and corporate clients.
FMI has the aim of mobilising investment through convening leading global institutional investors, corporate leaders, industry experts, diaspora and our team of analysts to explore sector and market trends and identify significant investment opportunities
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