Ghana Prepares For The 2021 AfCFTA

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is here, and all partaking nations including Ghana is prepared to exploit it on January 1, 2020. Ghana has hence revealed the essential structures equipped for encouraging the take-off in January one year from now.

The country has introduced institutional systems that will make it prepared and on edge for the function. The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo has additionally introduced inter-ministerial facilitation team comprised of basic sector ministers who should give vital direction and backing to prepare Ghana for the AfCFTA.

Additionally, there is public directing board of trustees that is organizing and managing the support that will be given to the privately owned businesses and other partners.

Ghana is fortunate to have a national AfCFTA planning office that has just been set up to plan the activities of the square in the country. Moreover, technical working groups have also been set up to examine subtleties needed to ensure that the approach is strong and give help to the advantage of privately owned businesses in the country.

The expanding intra African trade would prompt a fast increment in the trading of agricultural industrial, financial, scientific and technological products, which would fundamentally upgrade Ghana’s monetary fortunes, make profit for Ghanaian organizations and open opportunity for youth employment.

Numerous enterprises have already described the citing of the AfCFTA Secretariat here in Ghana as a colossal opportunity for Ghanaian organizations to use on the creation of goods and services for export.

The AfCFTA makes Africa the biggest deregulation zone in the world with a populace of 1.2 billion people and an all out Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of more than US$3.4 trillion.

It targets making a solitary continental market for products and services with free movement of business people and investments consequently promoting intra-continental trade.

The operational phase of the AfCFTA was subsequently launched during the 12th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Niamey, Niger on 7 July 2019.

The AfCFTA will be governed by five operational instruments, i.e. the Rules of Origin; the online negotiating forum; the monitoring and elimination of non-tariff barriers; a digital payments system and the African Trade Observatory.

Trading under the AfCFTA Agreement was due to commence on 1 July 2020, but as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, this date has been postponed. It has been indicated that the new date for operationalisation is 1 January 2021.