The African continental free trade agreement and the future of regional economic communities.

Abstract

Given the importance of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), it is critical to examine its potential success, or failure, particularly in the context of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs). Another important issue is how the AfCFTA would interface with other Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), the customs unions and monetary communities that already exist in Africa. The free trade agreements that subregions and or countries in Africa enter into are a threat to the AfCFTA because all efforts of African countries should be focusing on boosting intra-African trade in order to ensure that the AfCFTA succeeds and it does not seem feasible to readily ‘absorb’ the RECs into the AfCFTA. Using results from fieldwork, the paper makes a case that the future of RECs should be resolved so there is sufficient clarity regarding the implementation of the AfCFTA as far as the role of RECs is concerned.