The Country Director for the Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS International), Appiah Kusi Adomako, has praised the decision to postpone the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to next year, which was earlier expected to take of this month [July].
The AfCFTA secretariat made the announcement on the rescheduling of the implementation from July 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 due to the adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
AfCFTA is an agreement among some African countries aimed at encouraging intra African trade, aimed at creating jobs on the continent.
During an interview session, Mr. Adomako said some level of trading is already ongoing among African countries hence the postponement of the AfCFTA implementation date will not affect the movement of goods.
“Postponing the commencement of AfCFTA to next year is very good. It will allow countries to be able to resolve issues with the pandemic because we are trying to prevent new infections from people coming into individual countries, and one of the ways we can do that is to close borders. However, the fact that the borders are closed doesn’t mean that we are not trading among ourselves because goods are able to move across all the various regions,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo announced Ghana’s border closure until further notice, following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the country that has affected economic activities.
According to the President Akufo-Addo, the closure of the country’s border has been necessitated to ensure that there is no risk of importation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) into Ghana, while the country focuses on the measures put in place, such as the enhanced contact tracing and testing program currently underway to identify and treat infected persons.
A Senior Partner at AB & David, and a member of the Afrochampions Initiative, David Ofosu-Dorte, has also urged businesses across the African continent to adopt an African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) strategy post COVID-19.
He also added that businesses ability to prepare for the AfCFTA, would determine how much they would benefit from the initiative and help boost the continent’s economic growth agenda.
