Africa Waits as Virus Sets Back ‘Game-Changer’ Trade Pact

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, intra-African trade was set back by border bureaucracy, long delays at frontiers and countless regulations that differ from country to country. Now, the outbreak is delaying the start of a deal that is meant to change all that.

Although the African Continental Free Trade Area legally entered into force last year, commerce that was due to start on July 1 has been postponed as the virus put the brakes on negotiations on the protocol for trade in goods, including tariff concessions.