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Report ranks Ghana as fifth most committed country to AfCFTA implementation
Ghana has been cited as the fifth most committed country to the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by the policy and advocacy think tank, AfroChampions.
But Ghana did not feature in the top 10 with respect to implementation readiness, according to the group’s AfCFTA Year Zero report.
In the combined ranking of Commitment and Implementation Readiness, Ghana was in the sixth spot.
The reported noted that some of the most committed countries such as Ghana, Mali, Togo and Uganda “are not necessarily the most prepared in terms of trade infrastructure, customs efficiency and access to credit for industry.”
“Conversely, some of the least committed countries (such as Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania) performed very strongly in terms of implementation readiness,” the report added.
The most AfCFTA committed country is Rwanda which scores 83.93 percent on the commitment scale, and the least committed country is Eritrea with a score of 0.85 percent.
The country with the best implementation readiness is South Africa, with a score of 68 percent.
In the combined ranking of Commitment and Implementation Readiness, Rwanda emerged top of the table.
The report further noted that none of the three largest economies on the continent; South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria, feature in the top ten overall country performance.
“Of the three, Nigeria remains a special case. The Lagos Plan of Action in 1980 and the Abuja Treaty of 1991 already give the impression that Nigeria has been both an important country and player on the path to continental unity. It is thus intriguing to see Nigeria still at the signing phase of the Agreement,” it explained.
In the aggregate, overall average percentage score for AU Member States in relation to their level of commitment toward AfCFTA is 44.48 percent.
The overall average percentage score for implementation readiness is 49.15 percent.
“This indicates that the continent as a whole is less than 50% committed and less than 50% prepared for AfCFTA implementation.”
The report further noted “virtually all countries are lagging behind in the completion of National AfCFTA Implementation Strategies.”
This assessment was completed before the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The think tank now warns that pandemic threatens to derail AfCFTA and added that “the continent should press ahead and use AfCFTA as one of the weapons to beat COVID-19 and speed up post-COVID economic recovery.”
The full report can be read here
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