Business News of Tuesday, 21 January 2020Source: www.ghanaweb.comAfrican countries may postpone free trade agreement - EIU predictsAfrican Continental Free Trade Area logoAfrican countries who bought into the idea of having a free trade agreement are likely to postpone the deal from taking effect from July 1, 2020, Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has said. The unit attributed this 'lackadaisical' attitude of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) signatory states to the hesitant behaviour of their respective governments on the free trade implementation. The EIU was of the view that “some larger African countries, such as Nigeria, are still ambivalent about the agreement and, therefore, hesitant to push (and support) their smaller, less developed neighbours into preparing for its activation. In furtherance of the EIU's claim, it stated that institutional frameworks responsible for handling the legal issues arising from the implementation of the AfCFTA are weak in many African states. “Sluggish implementation of necessary legal changes and other obstacles will, therefore, see the vast majority of African states fail to meet the July 2020 deadline.

Source: GhanaWeb January 21, 2020 12:56 UTC