The African Continental Free Trade Agreement AFCFTA is the world’s largest free trade zone. 54 African countries trading $4 trillion in products and services among themselves.
This economic bloc has been invited to trade with the BRICS to advance Africa’s long-held goal of manufacturing minerals on the continent to improve foreign trade.
In an exclusive interview with BGTN, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo welcomed the BRICS-AFCFTA collaboration as a game changer in a world that has hindered African economic growth through embargoes and blockades.A
WATCH: Obasanjo unpacks BRICS-AFCFTA
A total number of 52 AFCFTA member countries adopted the PAPSS and is now live in 29 major commercial banks in Africa including Standard Bank and ABSA, and it is fully operational in four African countries.
Through the AFCFTA African countries can trade products and services in their local currencies. AFCFTA will help African countries reduce heavy reliance on the US dollar thanks to the Pan African Payment and Settlement System or PAPSS.
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BRICS and AFCFTA
Under the AFCFTA, African countries were invited to trade with BRICS; trade between the two economic blocs will put African countries’ combined GDP at $7 trillion by 2030.
By way of the BRICS bank or the New Development Bank (NDB), African countries will be able to borrow money to establish infrastructure and manufacturing factories, shifting the continent’s focus from raw materials to completed goods.
