Africa's Free Trade Area Moves $220 Billion — But Only Half the Continent Can Actually Use It
Fifty of 54 African Union members have ratified AfCFTA. Only 25 have actually gazetted the tariff schedules that let anyone trade under it.
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Stories about the people, economies, history and ideas shaping the continent, told with context.
Fifty of 54 African Union members have ratified AfCFTA. Only 25 have actually gazetted the tariff schedules that let anyone trade under it.
AGRA's 20-year report finds real gains in yields and income, and a $180 billion annual financing gap standing between that progress and farmers actually getting paid for it.
GSMA's global mobile money report puts sub-Saharan Africa at US$1.4 trillion of the world's US$2 trillion total — though a persistent gender gap and cross-border data rules still hold the model back.
The pan-African investment platform wants to more than double its current $9 billion project portfolio — and a $311 million Kenyan power deal signed entirely with private money shows how it plans to get there.
Seven dealmakers at a Johannesburg breakfast signal the same shift: distributions, not projections, now decide who raises the next fund.
Consolidation, not funding rounds, is defining Africa's tech market in 2026 — led by MTN's $6.2 billion move to take full control of IHS Towers.
Aliko Dangote says the offer is open to "every human being who is living on the continent" when subscriptions begin September 14.
Three loan agreements signed in Conakry tie a new hospital, an 84-kilometre highway, and a hydropower plant to Guinea's long-term Simandou 2040 development plan.
Flourish Ventures' pre-seed program funds an Algerian HR platform and a Cameroonian neobank alongside three ventures in Africa's already-crowded 'big four,' testing its own thesis about who gets left out.