A survey conducted across 18 countries on the continent by Pan-African and nonpartisan survey research network, Afrobarometer, has revealed that majority of Africans (66 percent) believe it’s very difficult to cross borders to either trade or work.
Of the respondents surveyed, as low as 21 percent of them were of the view that movement across regional borders for trade and work is easy.
Africans that find it most challenging to cross border for work or trade, the survey pointed out are citizens of francophone West and Central African countries.
In Gabon for instance, 82 percent of respondents surveyed opined that it’s very difficult to cross to neighbouring countries to work or trade. For Mali and Guinea, 82 percent and 81 percent of the respondents shared similar views.
The perceived difficulty of cross-border movement for trade and work, Afrobarometer notes in its survey, is however, lowest in three Southern African countries – Botswana (41%), Angola (43%), and Namibia (52%).
In Ghana, 67 percent of respondents are of the view that, it is very difficult to engage in cross-border trade with only 19 percent of the respondents saying it is very easy to cross borders for trade and work.
On the back of the survey conducted in both 2016/2018 and 2019/2020, Afrobarometer posits that crossing borders for work or trade appears to be growing more difficult for many Africans, with the proportion of Africans saying cross border movement is difficult increasing by 9 percentage points.
“Sierra Leone is the only country where this perception decreased (-17 percentage points), while neighbouring Guinea records an increase (+11 points). Even larger increases are seen in Kenya (+24 points), Côte d’Ivoire (+22 points), Burkina Faso (+22 points), Gabon (+20 points), and Namibia (+18 points),” notes Afrobarometer.
With regards to cross border openness to trade and work on the back of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, Afrobarometer notes that Africans are almost evenly divided.
Per the survey conducted, 47 percent of Africans support policies that protect domestic industries, while 49 percent prefer open borders for trade and influx of other African businesses.
Resistance to open borders for trade, the survey notes, is particularly strong in Tunisia (70%), Lesotho (63%), Botswana (62%) and Gabon (60%) with support for free trade being highest in Uganda (70%), Burkina Faso (63%), and Mali (61%).
The commencement of the AfCFTA, is expected to open up cross border trade among countries on the continent increasing intra-African trade from the current 15 percent to 81 percent by 2035.
The AfCFTA is also expected to lift 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty by 2035.
