AfCFTA Country Business Index

Experts meet to validate African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Business Index

9 December 2019  (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) -Over the course of two days, Pan-African Trade experts will meet to validate the methodology to produce the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Country Business Index at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa. The aim of the index is to provide an assessment of the extent to which businesses across Africa find trading across borders in Africa challenging, and to identify the main barriers to trade they experience. The index will allow for a ranking of this data across countries and provide an evaluation of the developmental impact of the AfCFTA. Views will be collected through a survey administered through regional and local chambers of commerce and industry. “The index is an instrument that provides business perceptions of the country-specific challenges in their own country, and how these country challenges impact on firms’ ability to trade across borders in Africa” says Adeyinka Adeyemi, Senior Advisor at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Read More

AfCFTA Country Business Index developed to measure and monitor the implementation of the AfCFTA

3 September 2019 (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) - The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) convened an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) from 2 to 3 September in Addis Ababa to review, critique and refine a draft methodology for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Country Business Index (ACBI).

Businesses currently face many constraints including high trade costs, divergent regulatory frameworks and governance issues that undermine their effective operations on the African continent. These bottlenecks are expected to be addressed by an effective implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement. The proposed ACBI is a robust tool designed for measuring and monitoring businesses’ experience with AfCFTA implementation at the country level. Mr. David Luke, Coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre, in his opening remarks said, “the Index will not only further contribute to better understanding of the challenges that private sector operators and traders at various levels face but also provide a tool for articulating their challenges to policy makers” Read More