“Non-Tariff Barriers Threaten Continental Free Trade”

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“Non-Tariff Barriers Threaten Continental Free Trade”

Ouzerou Youhenyi, research analyst, Cameroon Economic Policy Institute.

24 Sep 2026 07:42

What concrete industrial policies and tax incentives are needed to ensure African businesses process raw materials locally to capture higher value in global supply chains? We need simpler rules and better tax administration. Africans don’t need to lower taxes to zero, but anything above 30% is too much. Governments need to ensure 6-70% of research and development expenses are tax deductible and equally ensure all subsidies are tied to specific output for firms. There is a need to accelerate infrastructure deve lopment, reduce inter net cost and improve the functioning of national and regional markets to support small and medium sized enterprises. What practical steps should regional economic communities take to acce lerate seamless cross-bor der trade for small and medium enterprises? All regional blocs, especially those of Central Africa must adopt and implement a Sim plified Trade Regime (STR) so that traders can cross borders without high fees and burden some administrative require ments. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) only reduces tariffs, but non-tariff barriers are the greatest threat to the AfCFTA, inclusive econo mic development and higher levels of regional integration. All countries should ratify, adopt and implement the AfCFTA pro tocols so that laws can become increasingly streamlined across the continent. It is important that countries focus on creating pathways for informal sector actors to contribute to formal value chains, while maintai ning current incentives for formalization. How can African financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds, and interna tional investors mobilize domestic capital to lower borrowing costs for manu facturing? If there is a market, investors will come. We also need to move on from the narrative that Africa must import capital. Reports from the Cameroon Economic Policy Institute (CEPI) remind that Africa possesses an esti mated 4 trillion dollars (FCFA 2,288,880 Billion) in untapped domestic capital held across institutional funds, commer cial banks, and central bank reserves. It is time Africans ensure that they provide mar ket rates for investors to pool these resources and finance the continent’s development. In light of ongoing global geopolitical tensions, where do the most imme diate commercial opportu nities lie for African enter prises seeking to integrate into global trade flows? We are commodity exporters, mainly. So, the opportunity is not in oil...