Export Potential Under the African Continental Free Trade Area: Limited Prospects for the Least Developed Countries in Africa?

Free trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area commenced in January 2021. Countries agreed to remove tariffs on 90 per cent of goods, progressively liberalize trade in services and eliminate non-tariff barriers, to improve regional cohesion, create a single large African market and promote gross domestic product (GDP) growth through trade. With the objective of guiding feasible policies and sectoral strategies at the national and regional levels, this policy brief highlights how countries in Africa, in particular the least developed countries, benefit differently from tariff liberalization and the removal of non-tariff barriers.