Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General
• The AfCFTA Secretary-General has hinted that some funds are going to be made available for member countries in the next six months
• He said the monies will help build competitiveness among countries
• He also noted that payment systems will be introduced to make currency converting easy
The African Continental Free Trade Area will set up a fund of one billion dollars to support member states in the next six months.
According to Secretary-General Wamkele Mene, the fund is an adjustment that will help build competitiveness among the countries as stipulated in the trade pact.
Speaking to Accra-based JoyNews in an interview closely monitored by GhanaWeb, he said the initiative is part of efforts to support member countries come up with innovative ways to position Africa on the map and enhance competitiveness among the member states.
“Well in the next six months, we should look out for an establishment of an AfCFTA business forum focusing on small medium enterprises to create connectivity for small medium enterprises, we should also look out for a launch of an AfCFTA adjustment fund of about one billion dollars which help countries that needs to adjust to the new competition that is to be presented by the AfCFTA,” he said.
He also said special payment systems will be introduced to reduce the cost of converting currencies.
“We should also look forward to an establishment of Pan-African payment and settlement platform to reduce the cost currencies convertibility on the continent as you know it is very expensive to convert currencies in Africa, especially when you trade across regions from West to East Africa, all of these things are happening in the next six months,” he added.
Meanwhile, speaking on the way forward and how goods are moved across borders, Mr Mene said he is excited that Ghana, among other African countries, has custom procedures that allow free trade of goods.
“You never get outcomes in less than a year or two so the assessment in trade flows across borders on the African continent will take time, countries are still setting up their customs procedures but I am happy to say that Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt are some of the countries that have their customs in place that are ready to admit goods that are traded under AfCFTA preferences,” he noted.