After a four years wait of talks, an agreement to form a 55-nation trade bloc was reached in March, resulting into an African Union summit in Niger where Ghana was announced as the host of the trade zone’s headquarters as discussions were held on how exactly the bloc will operate.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been hailed as the largest since the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1994. The AfCFTA is aimed at making use of Africa’s economic potential by boosting intra-regional trade, strengthening supply chains and spreading expertise.

However, Malawi is yet to ratify the agreement which came into force on May 30 2019 when 22 member states ratified it. 28 other countries are yet to ratify as they are assessing whether the development is necessary. On the other hand, ratified states have committed to eliminate tariffs on most goods, which will increase trade in the region by 15-25% in the medium term, but this would more than double if these other issues were dealt with, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates.