Countries under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will remove tariffs on 90% of goods they produce by 2022.

According to a paper published by Cuts International, signatory countries are also permitted to single out products which require shielding for the purposes of protecting an infant industry.

The AfCFTA provides for differential treatment in order to protect Least Developed Countries (LDCs) from bigger and more competitive countries such as South Africa, Nigeria or Egypt.

To protect some businesses, the Ministry of Trade spokesperson Mayeso Msokera said the agreement allows 7% of products to be categorised under the sensitive list and three percent under exclusion list, which caters for almost 231 products under protection. “These lists have been developed in consultation with the private sector and essentially cover all essential products for Malawi.” Msokera also said the lists will also be sent to the African Union secretariat for negotiations.

The paper published by Cuts International is titled ‘African Continental Free Trade Agreement: Opportunities and Challenges’.