Exploit AfCFTA opportunities: CZI
RYAN CHIGOCHE
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industry (CZI) has implored local companies to exploit opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The agreement establishing AfCFTA came into force in 2019, with the new trading bloc expected to bring together 1.2bn people and a combined gross domestic product of US$3.4 trillion.
Member countries of the African Union agreed to eliminate tariffs of most goods, liberalise trade of key services, address non-tariff obstacles to intraregional trade and eventually create a continental single market with free movement of labour and capital.
“We have to re-think how we can exploit the opportunities presented by AfCFTA. These are the issues we have got to focus on to grow our economy,” CZI president Kurai Matsheza said at the recent launch of the National Competitiveness Commission 2021 report.
He said the recent census showed that the population was growing at a slower pace and it would not take the country far if it were to “grow this economy focusing on this small population”.
The AfCFTA is a flagship project of the African Union’s Agenda 2063, a blueprint for attaining inclusive and sustainable development across the continent over the next 50 years.
It aims to boost intra-African trade by providing a comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement among the member states, covering trade in goods and services, investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy.
African nations have a significant potential to lift 30m people out of severe poverty through AfCFTA.
In his recent mid-term budget statement, Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube stressed the importance of the AFCTA.
Zimbabwe, which is participating in the lower end of regional and global value chains, remains at a disadvantage and may not benefit from AfCFTA which presents a great market opportunity for the country’s products.
Resultantly, according to the mid-term statement, the Zimbabwe government’s investments is set to prioritise value addition and sophistication of manufactured products, taking advantage of the country’s endowments and innovations from the universities in order to arrest the decline in the number, volume, diversity and complexity of locally produced products, including the current concentration.
