Africa’s 1.4 billion market still struggling with low intra-trade

[00:00:10]Good evening and welcome to KTN Business Prime. I'm Noah Kipkemboi. Africa has a market of more than 1.4 billion people and a continental free trade area designed to turn it into the world's largest trading block. But despite that ambition, intra-Africa trade still remains low, raising questions over what is holding back deeper economic integration. Kelvin Nyakundi reports.

[00:00:41]>> Africa's economic promise is clear. A young population, vast resources, and fast-growing cities. But that potential is still not fully connected. According to the director of UNDP's resilience hub for Africa, intra-African trade remains stuck at around 15 to 18%.

[00:01:01]>> Our production system systems, our infrastructures, our digital platforms, our market ecosystems across borders.

[00:01:14]>> That fragmentation is visible at the borders, where goods move slowly, costs rise, and trade is delayed. Beyond paperwork and customs, the deeper problem is disconnected economies. To change this, the focus is shifting towards what some call Africa's frontier economy. The Rest GLR initiative is going to be driving connected markets, regional corridors, and integrated value chains.

[00:01:42]>> We are not only focusing on improving the uh border efficiency.

[00:01:50]We are here to create conditions for better investment, better collaboration, better uh digital uh market connectivity >> Under the African Continental Free Trade Area, the goal is to turn borders from barriers into gateways for trade and investment, but implementation remains uneven and logistics costs across the continent remain among the highest in the world.

[00:02:17]>> If we are engaging ourselves dwelling on treating the system definitely we will not have you know the opportunity to use the real potential of Africa.

[00:02:35]>> Africa's population is expected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, but without stronger regional integration, economists warn the continent risks missing out on the full gains of its own market.

[00:02:49]>> The AfCFTA was meant to turn about 1.4 billion people into a single market, but Africa still trades more with the globe than with itself. The question is now not ambition, but execution. Are governments able to break the barriers that hold back Africa's greatest opportunity?

[00:03:08]Yacouba Kelvin for KTN from Lusaka in Zambia.

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