Towards a single African economic space

Abstract

This chapter interrogates the place of informal cross-border trade in Africa’s integration project, with a focus on Eastern and Southern Africa. The African Union (AU) enforced the African continental free trade area (AfCFTA) in May 2019 and envisages an African Economic Community (AEC) that will exist by 2028 and be built on eight regional economic communities (RECs). Africa also touts integration as the key strategy for accelerating socioeconomic transformation (UNECA, 2010). Informal cross-border traders (ICBTs) operate in the informal economy, which constitutes approximately 70% of the total economy in some African countries. Actors in the informal economy are real and need attention, if the tripartite free trade area (TFTA) is to facilitate inter- and intra-regional trade. The policies, legislation and documents crafted by policymakers and public officials were analysed because they reflect their thinking and preferences. Economic reforms and liberalisation in the late 1980s and early 1990s in sub-Saharan Africa helped establish conditions partly explained by the foregoing.