The House of People’s Representatives (HPR) approved on Thursday 21 March the membership of the country into the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), bringing the number of ratifications across the continent to 21.
While up to 44 African countries enacted the AfCFTA last year in Rwanda, 22 ratifications are required to effectively bring the agreement into force.
The AfCFTA, one of the biggest trade agreements since the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), aims to create a single market in Africa.
The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) was endorsed by leaders of more than 40 countries in March last year. Since then more states have joined the agreement, including Ethiopia.
The AfCFTA is meant to create a tariff-free continent that can grow local businesses, boost intra-African trade, revamp industrialization and create jobs.
The agreement creates a single continental market for goods and services as well as a customs union with free movement of capital and business travelers.
If all 55 African countries join the AfCFTA, it will be the world’s largest free trade area in the world, covering more than 1.2 billion people and a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion.
Once in force, AfCFTA will also increase intra-African trade by 52% by the year 2022, remove tariffs on 90% of goods, liberalize services and tackle other barriers to intra-African trade, such as long delays at border posts.
