ADVERTISEMENT
The Sun Nigeria
  • Home
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
No Result
View All Result
The Sun Nigeria
No Result
View All Result
Home Business

AfCFTA: African firms to access 1.2bn markets

9th November 2018
in Business
0
AfCFTA
0
SHARES
110
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
ADVERTISEMENT

Uche Usim, Casablanca

The need for all African nations to come onboard to sign and ratify the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) was reiterated on Thursday as the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) said the deal would allow African firms access into over 1.2 billion strong markets and a growing middle class available within the continent.

Out of 55 countries in Africa, only 44 has signed with Nigeria, Zambia and eight others among the reluctant nations.

The Director & Global Head, Communications and Events Management, Afreximbank, Mr Obi Emekekwue who made the disclosure in Casablanca, Morocco on Thursday at the ongoing annual Structured Trade Finance Seminar and Workshops said the Agreement also comes with cost advantages and a robust chance to benefit from economies of scale. According to him, expanding markets offer important opportunities to develop regional value chains that can enhance diversification and competitiveness and consolidate and integrate production infrastructure and processes across borders.

READ ALSO Pro-Biafra group pays homage to Obi of Onitsha

He said: “Constrained access to markets limits the growth of firms. Therefore, for domestic firms, getting rid of local market constraints may improve growth prospects and access to finance and technology in the global economy.

“There are, however, notable challenges. If large firms gain a dominant position in the African market, they may crowd out small and medium-size firms. This suggests a need for complementary policies, including consumer protection and competition policies, to ensure a smooth transition.

“Full implementation of the AfCFTA would require the diverse countries in Africa to create shared institutions to provide public functions. There are clear economies of scale advantages in spreading these costs across the AfCFTA area”.

Emekekwue added that higher heterogeneity and political costs can be expected as a result of countries’ diverse cultural, political and economic arrangements, especially if some countries’ preferences for public goods and policies are incompatible with the preferences of other countries or sub-regions on the continent. “Heterogeneity can also be source of value in the AfCFTA area if differences across the continent stimulate economic agents to specialise in the production of different rival goods and services, whiles simultaneously learning from each other. And when there is little heterogeneity, conflict may arise because interest groups may have similar preferences for particular rival goods.

“To reap the enormous potential benefits of the AfCFTA, it is necessary that all African countries join. The sooner that the remaining nations join the AfCFTA, the sooner all countries will be able to realise these benefits”, he stated.

He also said the deal is also tied to the Boosting Intra-African Trade (BIAT) action plan, which forms part of broader initiatives under the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

“All these fall within the limited scope of intra-African trade, which at 15 percent compares unfavourably with Europe (67 percent), Asia (58 percent), North America (48 percent) and Latin America (20 percent).

“Intra-African trade and industrialisation are crucial to the prosperity and inclusiveness agenda articulated under the African Union’s Agenda 2063 development strategy and moving away from commodity and natural resource dependence is an indicator of success and transformation under the AU Plan.

“It is also in line with Afreximbank’s Fifth Strategic Plan which emphasizes the promotion of intra-African trade as well as industrialisation and export development”, he added.

Emekekwue said it is important African nations have a good understanding the extent of vulnerability and in designing the appropriate policy for promoting value addition and export diversification.

“The removal of tariffs and trade barriers to free up trade and deepen intra-African trade and regional integration is an important tenet of the AfCFTA”, he said

Tags: AfCFTAObi Emekekwue
Omotayo Edubi

Omotayo Edubi

Related Posts

How new VAT law’ll affect cost of building materials
Business

How new VAT law’ll affect cost of building materials

29th November 2019
Business

Estate focus: Troy Court Surulere, Lagos

29th November 2019
PenCom approves 2,831 applications for annuity retirement in Q3, 2018
Business

Pension fund assets hit N9.58trn

29th November 2019
Next Post
IMF

IMF predicts Nigeria’s economy to grow by 1.9% in 2018

Lokosa scores N3.8m in Eunisell boot award

Lokosa receives N3.8m, Eunisell Boot for NPFL goals

CUSTOMS

Onne Customs rakes in N26.3bn in 3 months 

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

No Result
View All Result

Highlights

Power: FG taking steps to address challenges —‘ minister

Buhari lauds contributions of traditional rulers to nation-building

Bolivia to restore relations with Israel after a decade

Group urges special allocation to Suleja LG

NAFDAC suspends production in 17 sachet water companies in Kaduna

Soldiers kill 13, terrorists, recovers 3, gun trucks, anti-aircraft guns, others in Borno 

Trending

Relic of Jesus’ crib to return to Holy Land after over 1,000 years
World News

Relic of Jesus’ crib to return to Holy Land after over 1,000 years

29th November 2019
0

After spending more than 1,000 years in Rome, a wooden fragment worshipped by Catholics as part of...

Maltese PM refuses to pardon businessman in journalist murder probe

Maltese PM refuses to pardon businessman in journalist murder probe

29th November 2019
Australian court hands out heavy sentences for Melbourne Christmas terror plotters

Australian court hands out heavy sentences for Melbourne Christmas terror plotters

29th November 2019
Power: FG taking steps to address challenges —‘ minister

Power: FG taking steps to address challenges —‘ minister

29th November 2019
Buhari assures on political stability for investments can thrive 

Buhari lauds contributions of traditional rulers to nation-building

29th November 2019
The Sun Nigeria

Follow us on social media:

Categories

  • Abuja Metro (785)
  • Arts (150)
  • Broken Tongues (139)
  • Business (12,929)
  • Business Week (90)
  • Cartoons (69)
  • Citizen Joe (28)
  • Columns (7,253)
  • Cover (24,551)
  • Culture (39)
  • Duro Onabule (144)
  • Editorial (1,645)
  • Education Review (1,201)
  • Effect (377)
  • Elections (2,736)
  • Entertainment (2,301)
  • Events (102)
  • Features (3,577)
  • Femi Adesina (4)
  • Food & Drinks (143)
  • Frank Talk (99)
  • Funke Egbemode (108)
  • Gallery (7)
  • Health (1,668)
  • Insights (150)
  • Kalu Leadership Series (47)
  • Kunle Solaja (3)
  • Kunle Solaja (23)
  • Letters (147)
  • Lifeline (1,769)
  • Lifestyle (239)
  • Literary Review (650)
  • Marketing Matters (47)
  • Muiz Banire (2)
  • National (56,125)
  • News (1,647)
  • Offside Musings (46)
  • Opinion (4,073)
  • oriental news (782)
  • Politics (10,563)
  • Press Release (4)
  • PressClips (184)
  • Public Sphere (136)
  • Ralph Egbu (161)
  • Shola Oshunkeye (23)
  • Sideview (1)
  • South-west Magazine (816)
  • Sponsored Post (1)
  • Sporting Sun (5,536)
  • Sports (10,351)
  • Sun Girl (1,037)
  • Tea Time (27)
  • The Flipside – Eric Osagie (73)
  • The Sun Awards Live (67)
  • The Sun TV (102)
  • Thoughts & Talks (30)
  • Time Out (167)
  • Today's cover (175)
  • Tola Adeniyi (63)
  • Travel (78)
  • Travel & Tourism (153)
  • Trending (82)
  • TSWeekend (1,317)
  • Turf Game (133)
  • Uncategorized (9)
  • Updates (106)
  • Views from Abroad (56)
  • Voices (131)
  • World (16)
  • World News (6,435)
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Paper Ad Rate
  • Online Ad Rate
  • The Team
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.