Trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) commenced on January 2021. As of 5 February 2021, 36 countries have deposited their instruments of ratification., 36 countries have ratified the AfCFTA agreement.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will cover a market of 1.2 billion people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.5 trillion, across all 55 member states of the African Union. In terms of the numbers of participating countries, AfCFTA will be the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization. It is also a highly dynamic market.

The population of Africa is projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, at which point it will comprise 26 percent of what is projected to be the world’s working-age population, with an economy that is estimated to grow twice as rapidly as that of the developed world. With average tariffs of 6.1 percent, businesses currently face higher tariffs when they export within Africa than when they export outside it.