The Invisible Industrialization Taking Place Across Africa

Every few months, the same verdict is delivered on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): it is not yet transforming Africa's productive structure. Manufacturing remains weak, raw commodities still dominate exports, and the continent continues importing machinery, electronics and vehicles. The conclusion appears inescapable. Africa has not industrialized. But maybe the problem lies elsewhere. Perhaps we are trying to measure the current situation with a wrong scorecard. The AfCFTA may ultimately be judged a failure not because it fails to industrialize Africa, but because we continue looking for evidence of industrialization in the wrong places.

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