The Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and African Export and Import Bank are collaboratively making progress to reduce the cost of transacting business among African countries under the trade pact.
The cost of doing business has been identified as a key challenge in promoting intra Africa trade due to the unavailability of common payment system for all fifty four country.
Speaking in an interview the Secretary General of AfCFTA Secretariat, Wamkele Mene hinted that the common trade platform is in the offing.
“So, you have to develop first, there’s a primary step. You have to develop a country’s export capacity, and export development is at the core of this conference, so that businesses, private sectors, small [and] medium enterprises know how to reach new markets on the African continent. So, this is very much a part of implementation of the AfCFTA, the pillar of export development”.
Touching on currency pertaining to trading among African nations and the secretariats collaboration with Africa Eximbank,
“We are working as hard as we can to make sure the pan-African payments and settlements platform is rolled out and it’s up and running as early as possible, next year. I’m not able to give time lines now because we are working with Africa Eximbank.
“However, we are fully conscious of the fact that it has to be up and running if we want to reduce the cost of transactions and the cost of trade in Africa. So, we are trying to make sure that as we roll out the trading date on the 1st January, 2021, that the platform is rolled out at the same time. But it’s difficult to give a deadline, but we are working as hard as we can to make sure that we achieve that objective.
“We have rules, the AfCFTA agreement, it creates obligations for state parties. There are rules that every state party has to abide by, so, we would have to look at the context, we would have to look at the merits of the issue, we would have to look at what does the law say about a particular action that a state party takes.
“But remember that the agreement binds only state parties. If you have not ratified the agreement, you are not bound by it. But we intend to make sure that, the rule of law in terms of the agreement itself, that it is fully applicable”.
On October 21, 2020, the Secretary-General of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene, indicated its preparedness in launching a payment and settlement digital platform as a conduit for enhancing market access within the region.
Speaking at the two day AfCFTA conference held in Accra, Mr. Mene noted that the payment platform will invariable augment efforts in effectively improving transactions.
“I am pleased to announce to you that we are collaborating very closely with the Afrexim (African Export-Import) Bank and other stakeholders on the African continent to establish an efficient and affordable payments and settlement digital platform for cross border transactions through a digitized pan African payments and settlements system in support of the implementation of AFCTCA.”
“By providing the requisite settlement backstop and liquidity, the Afrexim Bank shall be given practical means to our shared objective of an integrated market in Africa. Without an efficient and cost effect pan African payment platform the private sector will continue to be constrained in accessing new markets. Under the AFCTCA we are working flat out to ensure the platform is rolled ASAP as soon as trading has started in Jan 2021”.
