TAG: Africa
Last month, 44 African nations gathered in Kigali to sign an agreement establishing a framework for the world’s largest free trade area (FTA) since the creation of the World Trade Organisation in 1995 – but how ready is Africa for such a deal? And to what extent will the Continental FTA (CFTA) be able to enhance intra-regional trade?
With resource-dependent markets recovering from the commodity price shock and the Continental Free Trade Area signed off by 44 nations just last month, Africa’s growth prospects are bright. The UN has forecast GDP to grow by 3.5% in 2018, and sentiment among business leaders is equally strong. In OBG’s Business Barometer: Africa CEO Survey – which interviewed 1000 C-suite executives in nine African markets – 84% of respondents had positive or very positive expectations about local business conditions for 2018, while 74% said that their business was likely or very likely to make a significant capital investment.
The year 2017 was a challenging one for Kenya’s economy, which reported a GDP growth rate of 4.9% – its lowest since 2013 – according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Dropping from 5.9% in 2016, the slowdown of GDP growth can be attributed to a number of factors, including protracted elections, severe droughts, as well as a deterioration of credit growth in the private sector.