Kenya’s negotiators and implementers are in the final stages to make the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (“AfCFTA”) a reality for many Kenyan businesses.
“Access to relevant and timely information regarding the implementation of AfCFTA is an important aspect of enabling businesses prepare and take advantage of the Agreement”. says Mr. Maurice Mwaniki, an Associate Director at PwC. He argues that local businesses want to know how ongoing negotiations will affect their strategies and whether the taxman, being the implementing agency, is ready to facilitate trade under the program.
KRA Approves procurement & publishes AfCFTA documents
The Kenya Revenue Authority in August 2021 approved procurement and subsequent publishing of AfCFTA trading documents according to Ms. Kavata Mutuku, a representative of the Trade Facilitation arm at the Customs and Border Control Department.
Ms Mutuku noted that the Customs system and procedures are currently being reviewed and aligned to accommodate trade under AfCFTA and that the tax authority is currently sensitising its own staff, the private sector and other stakeholders through a number of capacity building programmes.
The AfCFTA could only come into force once it had been ratified by at least 22 countries; so far 42 countries are ratified, consequently, the Agreement was entered into force on 30 May 2019 with the initial expectation being that trade under the AfCFTA would start by 1 July 2020. Owing to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the launch of the AfCFTA was postponed, eventually taking place on 1 January 2021, and thereby marking the official start of trading.
The AfCFTA will be one of the world’s largest free-trade areas in terms of number of countries, reaching over 1.2 billion people and more than $4 trillion in combined consumer and business spending when all 55 countries join.
