(Bloomberg) --
The African Export-Import Bank has mobilized $1 billion for an adjustment facility to offset revenue losses for countries that lower cross-border tariffs as part of an Africa-wide free trade area, according to the zone’s most senior official.
“We will be able to go to global capital markets and we will be able to go to development finance institutions to mobilize more resources, but at the moment, it is a fund of a facility of $1 billion,” Wamkele Mene, secretary general of the African Continental Free Trade Area said in an interview Thursday.
Officials are making “very, very good progress” on the facility, and countries may be able to draw on it by year-end, he said.
The world’s biggest free-trade area was implemented Jan 1. It aims to bolster intra-African trade by lowering or eliminating cross-border tariffs on 90% of goods, facilitating the movement of capital and people, promoting investment and paving the way for a continent-wide customs union.
Read More: Africa Trade Deal Could Tap $84 Billion in Export Potential
The planned reduction in duties has raised concerns from countries that rely on them for income. However, a World Bank report shows that short-term tariff revenues would decline by less than 1.5% for 49 out of 54 African countries, with total tax revenues set to decrease by less than 0.3% in 50 countries under the deal.
That’s because only a small share of tariff revenues come from intra-African trade, according to the Washington-based lender. The bulk is from a few tariff lines and that would enable some protectionist measures to be maintained even if countries liberalize, it said.
Últimas Noticias
Debanhi Escobar: they secured the motel where she was found lifeless in a cistern
Members of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in Nuevo León secured the Nueva Castilla Motel as part of the investigations into the case
The oldest person in the world died at the age of 119
Kane Tanaka lived in Japan. She was born six months earlier than George Orwell, the same year that the Wright brothers first flew, and Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
Macabre find in CDMX: they left a body bagged and tied in a taxi
The body was left in the back seats of the car. It was covered with black bags and tied with industrial tape
The eagles of America will face Manchester City in a duel of legends. Here are the details
The top Mexican football champion will play a match with Pep Guardiola's squad in the Lone Star Cup
Why is it good to bring dogs out to know the world when they are puppies
A so-called protection against the spread of diseases threatens the integral development of dogs
