Africa free trade agreement: 'Moving people across borders is the real magic'

The Continent is uniting. Ray White interviews Adrian Saville of the Centre for African Management and Markets at Gibs.

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On 1 January 2021, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into being.

The free-trade area consists of 54 (out of 55, only Eritrea is not included) African Union members with a combined population of 1.3 billion people.

AfCFTA presents a major opportunity for African countries to boost trade and lift millions out of poverty over the next few years.

Ray White (in for Bruce Whitfield on The Money Show) interviewed Adrian Saville, Director of the Centre for African Management and Markets at Gibs.

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… a really complex spaghetti bowl of agreements… real challenges in moving goods… It costs five times more in Nigeria to move a container that it does in Brazil and 10 times more than in the Netherlands…

Adrian Saville, Director - Centre for African Management and Markets (Gibs)

Among European countries, 70% of all trade is done with each other… In Asia, it’s 50%... In Africa, it’s just 13%... It’s almost as if our neighbours don’t exist!

Adrian Saville, Director - Centre for African Management and Markets (Gibs)

The movement of people; that’s the real magic – the ability of people to move across borders… Britain has gone in the opposite direction of the evidence… There are risks, but also extraordinary opportunity… There is no country that has become prosperous by building walls and locking people out.

Adrian Saville, Director - Centre for African Management and Markets (Gibs)

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

This article first appeared on CapeTalk : Africa free trade agreement: 'Moving people across borders is the real magic'

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