The trade facilitation agreement and Africa's regional integration

This article puts the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in the context of Africa's ongoing regional integration efforts, and its main contributions are fourfold. It demonstrates that trade-related costs hinder not only Africa's integration with the rest of the world, but, more fundamentally, its own regional integration. It compares the instruments covered by the TFA with those already implemented on the ground, discussing some policy challenges in the implementation of the TFA. Lastly, it presents evidence of the benefits of trade facilitation in the context of the Continental Free Trade Area.