Despite sustained efforts to boost regional trade, African countries still trade more with the rest of the world than among themselves. Rectifying this imbalance calls for strategic investments in cross-border value chains in priority sectors across the continent, argues Joy Kategekwa, the director of the regional integration coordination office at the African Development Bank. Firms investing across multiple jurisdictions should know that there are financial incentives for doing so, Kategekwa argues.“With the AfCFTA, we’re saying if you add value on this continent, using products made on the continent, we shall consider them made in Africa for the purpose of preferential tariff treatment. The signal that it sends to the market and to the producers is “make it, and we’ll buy it.”
