Africa Signs Free-Trade Deal to Replace Existing Agreements
- Several governments, including Nigeria, fail to ink accords
- Individuals nations will still have to ratify the agreements
Photographer: Trevor Snapp/Bloomberg
This article is for subscribers only.
African leaders signed accords setting up a continental free-trade area that’s expected to boost commerce within the 55-member African Union and eventually supplant a patchwork of existing agreements.
More than 40 nations signed the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, or AfCFTA, which commits governments to removing tariffs on 90 percent of goods and phasing in the rest in future. The agreements will still require ratification by the individual governments and will only come into force when ratified by at least 22 countries.