Notizie

The Invisible Industrialization Taking Place Across Africa

Sabato 11 Luglio 2026 06:38

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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.

Read on our blog.

Ethiopia and Kenya are formalising small-scale trade, but traders might still choose informal routes

Mercoledì 08 Luglio 2026 17:20

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This article published by Trade Finance Global (TFG) interviewing out CEO explores one of most important trade policy experiments in East Africa: the new Ethiopia–Kenya Simplified Trade Regime (STR) at Moyale. The initiative seeks to formalize small-scale cross-border trade by introducing simplified customs procedures for licensed border traders. The article highlights a fundamental tension at the heart of formalization policies: governments seek greater regulatory control, while traders seek the lowest-cost and most predictable way to earn a living. As long as formal channels remain more costly, restrictive, or less convenient than informal ones, many will continue to operate outside the formal system. The discussion then reframes trade facilitation as behavioural economics. The central message is essentially: traders do not become formal because governments create a legal framework. They become formal when the legal framework is more attractive than the informal alternative.

The New Investment Game: Why Africa Must Turn Geopolitics Potential into Industrial Power

Martedì 07 Luglio 2026 11:00

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The UNCTAD World Investment Report 2026 portrays a global investment landscape increasingly shaped by geopolitical fragmentation, industrial policy, technological transformation, and the search for more resilient supply chains. For Africa, it presents a mixed picture. While the continent continues to attract growing interest from international investors, the scale, distribution, and developmental impact of these investments remain uneven.

Why Circulation, Not Infrastructure Accumulation, Drives Development Outcomes

Domenica 05 Luglio 2026 10:37

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Instead of asking, "How much infrastructure should countries build?", the more fundamental question is: "Does that infrastructure enable the efficient circulation of productive factors throughout the economic system?". This is the central proposition of the Theory of Circulation in Trade Systems, which argues that infrastructure is not the engine of development in itself, but the medium through which economic activity flows. Read the article in the Eurasia Review.

African Regional Economic Communities and the Harmonisation of Digital Trade Frameworks

Venerdì 03 Luglio 2026 15:57

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The rapid expansion of the digital economy is transforming the way goods, services, information, and capital move across borders. However, digital trade cannot flourish on technological innovation alone. It also requires regulatory systems that promote legal certainty, interoperability, trust, and cross-border cooperation. This is one of the central arguments that emerge from the joint World Trade Organization (WTO) and Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) publication “Digital Trade and Regulatory Frameworks: Pathways to Inclusive Growth” (available at the moment only in French), which highlights the growing importance of regulatory governance as a foundation for inclusive digital transformation. Within the African context, the publication places particular emphasis on the role of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) as pioneers of digital regulatory integration and as key contributors to the continent's broader digital trade agenda.