Africa comes together

• Author: Francisco Arizala, Matthieu Bellon, and Margaux MacDonald
• Pages: 48-51

48 FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT | September 2018

I

nternational conversations on trade are cur-

rently dominated by threats of trade wars, but

the African continent is moving in the opposite

direction. After two years of negotiations, rep-

resentatives of a large number of African countries

signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement

in Kigali on March 21, 2018, at an extraordinary

African Union Summit. Is this agreement an attempt

to address dire and stagnant economic integration,

or is it part of rapid and steady regional integration?

Looking at a wealt h of growing linkages across

sub-Sahara n Africa and dr awing on the IMF’s

bilateral trade stati stics, our recent work suggests

it is the latter. We document that the subcontinent

PHOTO: ISTOCK/PEETERV

Sub-Saharan Africa is becoming more integrated—

which will aid growth but is not without risk

AFRICA

COMES

TOGETHER

Francisco Arizala, Matthieu Bellon, and Margaux MacDonald

A market in

downtown

Lagos, Nigeria.