Fast to the starting line, slow out of the blocks

the much-heralded African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) officially became operational on 1 January this year, with some fanfare. African countries, at least theoretically, began trading under the more favourable terms of the treaty on that day, marking the start of a new trading dispensation that should eventually create an immense single market of 54 countries, some 1.3bn people and a combined GDP of around $3.4tr.

Of the African Union’s (AU’s) 55 member states, only the reclusive nation of Eritrea in the Horn of Africa has not signed the AfCFTA and 34 countries have so far ratified it, a necessary step to implementation.

The clock is now ticking for countries, basically, to eliminate tariffs on 90% of goods over five years (ten years for least developed