Angola announced on Tuesday, January 25, that it will phase out tariffs on imports from countries in the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA).
Customs duties on imports now free for all FTAA states members. This is a new reform of the Angolan Government expressed in the final communiqué of the Economic Commission meeting of the Council of Ministers, held on Tuesday 25 January 2022. The meeting was based on the memorandum on Angola’s proposed tariff offer, within the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Indeed, since November 2020, Angola has become the 30th country to ratify the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area.
What about the FTAA creation?
Since 2012, African states have launched the project to create the African Continental Free Trade Area. The aim is to create the world’s largest barrier-free trade zone and to inject a new development dynamic into the continent. Currently, almost all African countries are already members of the FTAA except Eritrea. However, countries that have ratified the FTAA agreement include Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Libya, South Africa, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Seychelles, Eswatini, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe…
The agreement includes the elimination of tariffs on 90% of tariff lines over 5 years for the most developed countries and over 10 years for the least developed countries. Customs duties are to be eliminated at a later date for 7% of the tariff lines.
