A Political Economy Assessment of the AfCFTA

Peter Draper, Habtamu Edjigu and Andreas Freytag ()
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Peter Draper: The University of Adelaide, and Research Fellow, the World Bank

A chapter in The Palgrave Handbook of Africa’s Economic Sectors, 2022, pp 693-719 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The African Union agreed in March 2018 to form the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which became effective in April 2019 when 22 member countries ratified it. However, it will take some time until the agreement really works. To better understand potential failures and successes of the trade liberalization agenda set by the AfCFTA, this chapter assesses the motives and incentives of different actors including domestic businesses, multinational corporations, African and foreign governments, and the development community. Evidence shows that it is too early to have a clear picture of individual groups’ and actors’ interests as well as of winners and losers. It is, however, obvious that governments are restricted by political circumstances and, therefore, often deviate from first-best or textbook solutions.

Keywords: Economic integration; Trade policy; Africa; Political economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-75556-0_27

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