EX-LIBERIAN LEADER ROOTS FOR LARGER AFRICAN MARKET

  

The recently launched African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)  will reinforce the badly needed economic integration in the continent.

The larger market will not only attract greater investments, boost productivity but also provide better jobs for thousands of unemployed people.

"All these will support  the continent's economic transformation", said the former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf during the launching of the  third African Transformation Report.

The report was launched virtually from Accra, Ghana  on Thursday by  the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET), a continental think tank on economic policies. 

"Now it is time to reinforce the push for African integration, not just through trade but also through greater collaboration to provide regional public goods.

"Only then will Africa see its economies transform and develop the leadership and institutions to build the Africa we want", she said according to a dispatch to the media.

'Integrating to Transform' is the theme of this year's report which explored the critical need for the African countries to pursue greater economic integration to transform the continent.

The report was unveiled during the virtual Africa Transformation Forum  featuring leaders from both the public and private sector such as Mastercard Foundation and World Bank Group. 

It urges African countries to work together beyond "to accelerate transformation and improve lives by creating more jobs, enhancing digital transformation and managing the impacts of climate change".

ACET Founder and President K.Y. Amoako emphasized the need  for the  African countries to allow economies of scale and increased collaboration "through the delivery of regional public goods".

The latest edition of the African Transformation Report comes against a backdrop of AfCFTA which was launched early this year as one of the largest free trade blocs in the world.

AfCFTA is intended to bring 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty and to raise the incomes of 68 million others who live on less than $5.50 per day.

 With the implementation of AfCFTA, trade facilitation measures that cut red tape and simplify customs procedures would drive $292billion of the $ 450billion in potential income gains.

U T I L I T Y

The African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) is a pan-African economic policy institute that supports governments and businesses to transform economies and deliver sustainable growth that improves livelihoods.