300 companies await audit to enter AfCFTA market - Trade Minister

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, has disclosed that close to 300 companies have been chosen and are awaiting an audit by the ministry to give them the greenlight to compete in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) market.

Africa’s free trade area became a reality on 1 January 2021, promising to make it easier to do business across the continent.

The idea is to create one of the world’s biggest free-trade areas, opening up a market of more than 1.2bn people, with a combined GDP of more than US$3 trillion (£2 trillion). This would create business opportunities and jobs across Africa while reducing the cost of some goods in the shops and markets.

Appearing before Parliament on Wednesday to answer a question on plans the ministry has put in place to ensure that the private sector in Ghana harnesses the benefits from the AfCFTA agreement, Mr. Kyerematen stated that companies have been lined up and are undergoing audit.

“So far, about 300 companies have been selected, and the Ministry is undertaking enterprise-level audit to determine the specific types of support needed by these companies to enable them produce and enter and compete in the continental market. To facilitate trading under AfCFTA, the GRA has been designated as the competent authority for issuing certificates of origin to cover exports under AfCFTA.”

He further indicated that to ensure optimal participation by the private sector, the National AfCFTA Office has undertaken several consultations with stakeholders—both private sector and key public sector agencies—that have important roles to play to facilitate the effective participation of the Ghanaian private sector in AfCFTA trade.

Under the trade deal, tariffs on 90 percent of goods will be phased out within 10 years. This is being done in stages and could take up to 2035, according to the AfCFTA Secretariat.

Across the continent, just 2 percent of trade was with other African countries in the period 2015–17, compared to 47 percent in The Americas, 61 percent in Asia, 67 percent in Europe, and 7 percent in Oceania, according to UN trade agency Unctad.

With a large and seamless market for goods, the free trade area is expected to attract more domestic and foreign investment, fostering industrial growth in the continent.

This is one of the objectives of AfCFTA, which will be the world’s largest free trade area by number of countries once it is fully operational.