The political economy of the African Continental Free Trade Area and structural transformation in Africa

ABSTRACT

The post-colonial economy of African countries has continued to manifest all the characteristics of its colonial origins in terms of its structure, direction, and composition. Export of primary commodities continue to take precedence over exports of manufactured products. The African Continental Free Trade Area emerged after series of negotiations to address the problem of structural transformation through value added production, services and increased agglomeration in African economies. This paper examines the extent to which the AfCFTA can foster structural transformation and socio-economic development in Africa. The paper found that despite the challenges that may affect the implementation of the agreement, AfCFTA holds great potentials for the realisation of the social transformation in Africa through creation of regional value chains, unlocking the opportunities in free movement of factors of production and enhancing a stronger voice for Africa in the negotiation of trade and investment agreements with other regions of the world.

KEYWORDS:

• Structural transformation
• political economy
• African Continental Free Trade Area
• socioeconomic development

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba is an Adjunct Research Professor at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and Honorary Professor at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa, where he was previously an Associate Professor. He obtained PhD in Political Science from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He was previously a Visiting Scholar at the Program of African Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston and fellow of Brown International Advanced Research Institute, Brown University, Rhode Island, United States of America. Oloruntoba is the author, editor and co-editor of several books including Regionalism and Integration in Africa: EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements and Euro-Nigeria Relations, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2016 and co-editor with Toyin Falola of the Palgrave Handbook of Africa and the Changing Global Orde, 2022, among others. His research interests are in Political Economy of Development in Africa, Regional Integration, Migration, Democracy and Development, Global Governance of Trade and Finance, Politics of Natural Resources Governance, Indigenous knowledge and politics of knowledge production and EU-African Relations.