Making the Most of the African Continental Free Trade Area : Leveraging Trade and Foreign Direct Investment to Boost Growth and Reduce Poverty

The creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides a unique opportunity to boost growth, cut poverty, and reduce Africa’s dependence on the boom and-bust commodity cycle. A World Bank (2020) report estimates that the AfCFTA h...

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Main Authors: Echandi, Roberto, Maliszewska, Maryla, Steenbergen, Victor
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Washington, DC: World Bank 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099305006222230294/P1722320bf22cd02c09f2b0b3b320afc4a7
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37623
id okr-10986-37623
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spelling okr-10986-376232022-07-06T05:10:45Z Making the Most of the African Continental Free Trade Area : Leveraging Trade and Foreign Direct Investment to Boost Growth and Reduce Poverty Echandi, Roberto Maliszewska, Maryla Steenbergen, Victor TRADE AND GROWTH TRADE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT REGIONAL AND GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS GLOBAL PANDEMIC INTRAREGIONAL TRADE TERMS OF TRADE REGIONAL VALUE CHAIN The creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides a unique opportunity to boost growth, cut poverty, and reduce Africa’s dependence on the boom and-bust commodity cycle. A World Bank (2020) report estimates that the AfCFTA has the potential to raise income in the continent by 7 percent by 2035 and lift 40 million people out of extreme poverty, mainly by spurring intraregional trade (termed the “AfCFTA trade scenario” for purposes of this analysis). Reductions in nontariff barriers on goods and services and improvements in trade facilitation measures will account for about two thirds of the US$450 billion in potential income gains by removing long delays across most of the continent’s borders and lowering compliance costs in trade, making it easier for African businesses to become integrated into regional and global supply chains. This report builds on that earlier study by including potential gains arising from greater flows of foreign direct investment (FDI), termed the “AfCFTA FDI broadscenario,” and from deeper integration beyond trade, the “AfCFTA FDI deep scenario.” FDI has traditionally been low in Africa. The AfCFTA is likely to attract cross-border investment by eliminating tariff and nontariff barriers and replacing the existing patchwork of bilateral and regional trade deals with a single, unified market. Investors in any one of 55 member countries will have access to a continent of 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of US$3.4 trillion. Integration in global and regional value chains offers a further magnet for FDI and the jobs, investment, and know-how that FDI brings. 2022-07-05T19:32:09Z 2022-07-05T19:32:09Z 2022-06-30 Book http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099305006222230294/P1722320bf22cd02c09f2b0b3b320afc4a7 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37623 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Report Publications & Research Africa Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE) Africa Western and Central (AFW) Africa
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic TRADE AND GROWTH
TRADE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
REGIONAL AND GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS
GLOBAL PANDEMIC
INTRAREGIONAL TRADE
TERMS OF TRADE
REGIONAL VALUE CHAIN
spellingShingle TRADE AND GROWTH
TRADE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
REGIONAL AND GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS
GLOBAL PANDEMIC
INTRAREGIONAL TRADE
TERMS OF TRADE
REGIONAL VALUE CHAIN
Echandi, Roberto
Maliszewska, Maryla
Steenbergen, Victor
Making the Most of the African Continental Free Trade Area : Leveraging Trade and Foreign Direct Investment to Boost Growth and Reduce Poverty
geographic_facet Africa
Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE)
Africa Western and Central (AFW)
Africa
description The creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides a unique opportunity to boost growth, cut poverty, and reduce Africa’s dependence on the boom and-bust commodity cycle. A World Bank (2020) report estimates that the AfCFTA has the potential to raise income in the continent by 7 percent by 2035 and lift 40 million people out of extreme poverty, mainly by spurring intraregional trade (termed the “AfCFTA trade scenario” for purposes of this analysis). Reductions in nontariff barriers on goods and services and improvements in trade facilitation measures will account for about two thirds of the US$450 billion in potential income gains by removing long delays across most of the continent’s borders and lowering compliance costs in trade, making it easier for African businesses to become integrated into regional and global supply chains. This report builds on that earlier study by including potential gains arising from greater flows of foreign direct investment (FDI), termed the “AfCFTA FDI broadscenario,” and from deeper integration beyond trade, the “AfCFTA FDI deep scenario.” FDI has traditionally been low in Africa. The AfCFTA is likely to attract cross-border investment by eliminating tariff and nontariff barriers and replacing the existing patchwork of bilateral and regional trade deals with a single, unified market. Investors in any one of 55 member countries will have access to a continent of 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of US$3.4 trillion. Integration in global and regional value chains offers a further magnet for FDI and the jobs, investment, and know-how that FDI brings.
format Book
author Echandi, Roberto
Maliszewska, Maryla
Steenbergen, Victor
author_facet Echandi, Roberto
Maliszewska, Maryla
Steenbergen, Victor
author_sort Echandi, Roberto
title Making the Most of the African Continental Free Trade Area : Leveraging Trade and Foreign Direct Investment to Boost Growth and Reduce Poverty
title_short Making the Most of the African Continental Free Trade Area : Leveraging Trade and Foreign Direct Investment to Boost Growth and Reduce Poverty
title_full Making the Most of the African Continental Free Trade Area : Leveraging Trade and Foreign Direct Investment to Boost Growth and Reduce Poverty
title_fullStr Making the Most of the African Continental Free Trade Area : Leveraging Trade and Foreign Direct Investment to Boost Growth and Reduce Poverty
title_full_unstemmed Making the Most of the African Continental Free Trade Area : Leveraging Trade and Foreign Direct Investment to Boost Growth and Reduce Poverty
title_sort making the most of the african continental free trade area : leveraging trade and foreign direct investment to boost growth and reduce poverty
publisher Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate 2022
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099305006222230294/P1722320bf22cd02c09f2b0b3b320afc4a7
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37623
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