Director general, World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that the Intra African trade tariff is too high at 435 per cent and is detrimental to trade activities as well as the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
This high tariff, she said, is one of the reasons for the low trade volume among African countries which stands between 13 and 18 per cent while other blocs like the European Union achieve 60 percent internal trade activities.
The DG said this while speaking at a Trade Integration in Africa high level event themed Unleashing the continent’s potential in a changing world held on Friday in Nairobi.
“Cost of trading within and outside Africa is too high with tariffs hinging on 435 percent and 350 percent respectively, If this is not addressed it will be difficult to actualise a good implementation of the AfCFTA,” she said.
She acknowledged that some countries depend on the tariff as a significant source of revenue which is posing a challenge but said that is why there is a longer framework for the AfCFTA implementation.
Okonjo-Iweala said beyond the high tariffs, there are other barriers to trade within the continent which can be dealt with immediately such as the delay of trucks in communities, customs procedures that delays movement of goods, issuance of AU passports to aid movement of people especially among the business community, among other policies.
