Mozambique cabinet approves resolutions on AfCFTA agreement

The resolutions will allow Mozambique to access the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund.

The fund aims at assisting parties in implementing the AfCFTA agreement and limiting possible negative impacts, a government communiqué said.

It will also allow Mozambique to start using the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), which will be made available jointly by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the AfCFTA secretariat to be used by African companies in intra-African commercial transactions, domestic media outlets reported.

Mozambique will be part of the Guided Intra-African Trade Initiative for Goods, which aims at creating opportunities in the continent through economic operators from countries that have already submitted their tariff offers and are carrying out commercial transactions.

Despite the progress made, it would take time to fully implement intra-African trade, AfCFTA secretary general Wamkele Mene said a few weeks back.

Launched in 2018 and approved a year later, the African free trade agreement came into force at the beginning of 2021 and covers a market with more than 1.3 billion consumers.

The treaty eliminates customs duties on 97 per cent of goods traded between African countries, liberalises trade in services and improves regulatory and trade infrastructures.

Forty seven of the 54 members of the African Union have ratified the agreement. The seven countries yet to ratify are Benin, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. Eritrea doesn’t agree with the creation of the AfCFTA.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)