The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is encouraging Nigeria to bolster its automotive sector to not only fulfill its own automobile requirements but also those of neighboring nations.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
This appeal coincides with Zenith Bank’s recent memorandum of understanding (MoU) with AfCFTA, marking the inception of the SMARTAfCFTA Intra-Africa trade portal.
The SMARTAfCFTA portal serves as a unified hub for continental trade data and information. Zenith Bank is investing one million dollars to establish and sustain this trade information platform across Africa….CONTINUE READING
Wamkele Mene, the Secretary General of AfCFTA, emphasized the significance of Nigeria’s proactive engagement in automobile manufacturing during the Zenith Bank’s international trade seminar on non-oil exports.
Mene underscored the substantial gap in Africa’s automobile production, approximated at five million units per annum. Currently, only South Africa, Morocco, and Egypt are engaged in car manufacturing.
Mene also highlighted Nigeria’s potential to enter this market segment, capitalizing on Afrexim’s $1 billion fund earmarked for countries venturing into automotive production.
During the seminar, Mene remarked, “Our analysis has identified several key sectors that can facilitate the diversification we all aspire to achieve.
Among these are pharmaceuticals, agriculture and agro-processing, transport and logistics, and the automotive industry. Within the automotive sector, there lies an opportunity to expedite Africa’s economic diversification.”
The collective annual output of passenger vehicles from South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco totals 900,000 units, while Africa constitutes 17 percent of the global population. In contrast, a similarly populated country like India produces five million vehicle units annually. Looking ahead to 2035, AfCFTA’s projections suggest that to satisfy domestic demand within Africa, an annual production of five million vehicle units will be necessary.
