The Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063: Implications for Economic Integration in Africa

Abstract

<p>This paper examines how Africa’s recent efforts to promote economic integration, specifically<br />the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the proposed Continental Free Trade Area<br />(CFTA) are supported by and in harmony with the Post 2015 Development Agenda and the<br />African Union’s Agenda 2063 initiative.<br />The World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects projects for the period 2014-2017 that five of<br />the world’s 13 top growing economies will be in Africa. However, it is distressing and puzzling<br />that such growth has not been accompanied by reduced poverty, income inequality and<br />unemployment. It is also unsettling that few states met all of the Millennium Development<br />Goals (MDGs) which expired at the end of last year. Furthermore, Africa will likely be<br />confronted by daunting challenges in the near term. This ominous situation is enhanced by the<br />nature of Africa’s trade, both within the continent and in the global economy.<br />To counter some of these constraints, especially the tariff barriers, the RECs and the CFTA will<br />be critical in stimulating trade growth. Increased economic integration, either on a regional<br />level or on a continent-wide level under the general guidelines of the Sustainable Development<br />Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063 will result in increased trade which will, in the long term,<br />increase incomes, reduce poverty, increase employment, provide greater consumer choice, and<br />will offer shelter from exogenous external shocks. However, at least in the short term, such<br />gains are also typically accompanied by loses. This paper calls for a continental Integration<br />Compensation Funding Mechanism (ICFM) to balance some of these loses. The ICFM would<br />be developed and managed by the African Development Bank, the United Nations Economic<br />Commission for Africa and the African Union.</p>