The Secretary General of the African Continental Free
He, stressed that no African country has the financial muscle to initiate a significant economic stimulus package the way
He added: "I believe that even with the challenges of COVID-19, which I see as a crisis with an opportunity, most developed countries have introduced economic relief packages to re-inject dynamism and growth in their own economies.
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"The
He also explained that an effective implementation of the free trade area agreement would significantly boosting intra-African trade and investments and stave off the severe contraction in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of between 2.5 and five per cent of the GDP that was predicted for the continent by the
He stated that the AfCFTA would liberate the continent from inhibitive trade policies of the western world that has consigned African countries as the producer and exporter of primary commodities with the imposition of 1000 per cent tariffs or more on the export of processed primary products like leather from
He also said the agreement would ignite industrialisation in the continent by encouraging member states to add value to their primary products and sell them within the continent at zero tariffs.
"What we require is an action plan for the implementation of an industrial development plan strategy across
He, however, stated that he was concerned about the difficult challenges member countries would face while implementing the agreement and playing by its rules in spite of the optimism and political will shown by African leaders at
"What I worry about is the inability or willful lack of compliance because sometimes conditions are difficult. The worry I have is the implementation and compliance with the rules.
"Where the bigger challenge will be is from the border (custom) officials in the remote parts of the member states and whether or not the officials will adhere to the rules that required them to apply the AfCFTA procedures. This is the number one concern for me," he said.
The secretary general of the AfCFTA secretariat said that the
The facility, according to him, would help countries to make the adjustments required by the transition and cushion the loss from revenue forgone from duties and tariffs, noting that "there will be winners and losers.
"There would be immediate winners from countries that already have industrial development capacity. Some countries will experience short to medium term revenue losses as a result of liberalising their trade, reducing tariffs and allowing imports into their markets.
"The Afreximbank has offered an adjustment facility of about
The virtual conference, according to the President of
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