OpinionOne of the contentious issues that African leaders have to contend with is the expected emergence of global value chains across the continent. The postponement of the trading date for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) due to the disruptions caused by Covid-19 epidemic gives leaders time to iron out contentious issues. One of the contentious issues that African leaders have to contend with is the expected emergence of global value chains across the continent. Evidence from divided global value chains where one side provides intermediate goods and labour while the other provides expertise and final goods demonstrates that the gains are uneven, to put it mildly. Even within Africa, its participation in global value chains is largely driven by Northern and Southern African countries, which make up to 78 per cent of the continent’s total value chain trade.

Source: Standard Digital May 26, 2020 06:21 UTC