The African Continental Free Trade Area promises to transform regional trade, but fragmented transport networks, costly cross-border payments and restrictions on movement remain major barriers. A new Mo Ibrahim Foundation report, and a conversation with one of its researchers, highlight what still needs to change.
I opened the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s latest report for a slightly selfish reason: I had discovered that it cited an Emerging Markets Today article on the high cost of intra-African flights.
But once I started reading Africa on the Move: Boosting Mobility and Connectivity, the citation quickly became secondary.
The report gets at one of the biggest questions facing African economic integration today: what does a continental free trade area actually mean if people, goods and money still struggle to move across borders?
That question became the starting point for my conversation with Ben Crumpton, Senior Researcher at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, on the latest episode of Emerging Markets Today.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has always been ambitious. According to the foundation’s report, full implementation could raise intra-African trade from around 18% to 53%, expand manufacturing by roughly $1 trillion, generate $470 billion in additional income and create 14 million jobs by 2035.
Those projections help explain why AfCFTA is frequently described as transformative.
But the report also makes clear that removing tariffs is only the beginning.
A single market needs infrastructure underneath it.
And across Africa, that infrastructure is still incomplete.
AfCFTA: A single market on paper
The political achievement behind AfCFTA should not be underestimated.
The agreement entered into force in May 2019, with the ambition of progressively removing trade barriers and creating a more integrated continental market.
During our conversation, Ben explained that around 50 of the African Union’s 55 member states had ratified the agreement.
But he made an important distinction.
“This kind of ratification is not the same as full implementation.”
Countries are working to harmonise tariffs, simplify trade procedures and improve the movement of goods and services. Yet implementation also depends on visa arrangements, professional qualifications, transport connections and the practical costs of doing business across borders.
As someone originally from Brazil and now living in Europe, I was interested in how AfCFTA compares with Mercosur and the European Union.
Ben pointed to similarities in their objectives, particularly in reducing barriers to trade and allowing people to move more easily between participating countries.
But Africa faces a particularly difficult infrastructure challenge.
Trade agreements do not physically move goods.
Roads do. Railways do. Ports do. Airlines do. Payment systems do.
And much of Africa’s existing transport infrastructure was not designed to connect African markets with one another.
Many railway networks, for example, were originally built around an extractive economic model, moving raw commodities from mines and production areas towards ports for export.
Ben described the problem during our conversation:
“A lot of the railways are built on the pre-existing colonial model of exporting raw commodities from pit to port.”
Those networks may connect a mining region to an export terminal without connecting neighbouring cities or regional commercial centres.
That legacy still matters.
A business may gain preferential access to another African market under AfCFTA, but still face unreliable transport links, lengthy customs procedures and expensive logistics.
For smaller businesses, these costs can determine whether cross-border trade is commercially viable at all.
The existence of a trade agreement does not automatically create a functioning trade network.
The payment problem: Why Africa loses billions to currency conversion
One of the most striking numbers in the report has nothing to do with roads or railways.
Africa loses an estimated $5 billion every year to currency conversion costs, according to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
For many cross-border transactions, African currencies cannot easily be exchanged directly.
A business trading between two African countries may first need to convert its local currency into US dollars or euros before converting the funds into the recipient’s currency.
Every additional conversion introduces transaction costs, exchange-rate exposure and potentially longer settlement times.
During our interview, Ben explained why the foundation is interested in payments as an essential part of economic integration.
While remittances are an important source of income across the continent, the challenge extends beyond money sent between individuals.
Businesses also need efficient payment systems to support regional trade.
This is where the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) becomes particularly relevant.
PAPSS is a cross-border payment infrastructure initiative designed to facilitate transactions between participating African countries in local currencies, reducing the need to route payments through intermediary currencies such as the US dollar.
The system aims to improve payment efficiency and lower conversion costs while supporting greater financial integration.
Ben explained the underlying mechanism:
“It removes the need for countries to convert into a mediator currency like the dollar, or most often it’s the dollar.”
During our conversation in October 2026, he noted that Ethiopia had recently joined PAPSS, adding to the participation of other major economies, including Nigeria.
But he was careful not to overstate its impact.
When I asked whether PAPSS was already making a meaningful difference, he said it was still gathering momentum.
The real benefits, he explained, depend on reaching critical mass.
That is an important distinction.
A cross-border payment system becomes more useful as more central banks, financial institutions and businesses participate. Without sufficient coverage, companies may still need to rely on existing international payment arrangements.
PAPSS therefore faces a challenge similar to AfCFTA itself: implementation and participation must extend beyond formal commitments.
The broader implications also connect to discussions about de-dollarization across emerging markets.
We discussed the growing interest among BRICS countries and other economies in reducing their dependence on the US dollar.
From the foundation’s perspective, Ben highlighted domestic resource mobilisation as one potential benefit, particularly if greater financial autonomy encourages more investment within African economies.
However, local-currency payment infrastructure does not eliminate exchange-rate risk or the need for effective monetary and financial regulation.
It addresses one part of a much larger problem.
Payment infrastructure is trade infrastructure.
Without the ability to move money efficiently across borders, the benefits of tariff reductions and regional market access remain limited.
Why flying between African cities remains so expensive
The aviation numbers are equally revealing.
According to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, intra-African flights account for only around 2% of global flights, despite Africa representing roughly 18% of the world’s population.
That statistic appears in the report alongside a reference to our earlier Emerging Markets Today article, Why Intra-African Flights Are So Expensive, and What Could Change.
The article examines why flights between African cities remain expensive, why route density is limited, and why passengers sometimes have to travel through hubs outside the continent.
The foundation’s report provides further evidence.
A journey between Johannesburg and Mombasa, approximately 2,700 kilometres, can take up to 12 hours and cost as much as $750, based on the report’s April 2026 price comparison.
A comparable journey between London and Athens can take less than four hours and cost around $200.
The structural imbalance is also visible in airline traffic.
In 2024, intra-African traffic represented only 26.7% of African airline traffic, while intercontinental flights accounted for 44.9%.
These figures became one of the most interesting parts of my conversation with Ben.
He used the example of someone travelling from Kinshasa to Marrakesh, a journey that may require connections through Istanbul, the Gulf or Europe rather than a more direct route within Africa.
The consequences extend beyond inconvenience for passengers.
Longer routes increase costs for businesses, make regional tourism less competitive and complicate professional mobility.
I compared the situation with South America, where journeys between major cities such as São Paulo and Santiago are generally served by more established regional connections.
Ben agreed that the comparison was useful but pointed to another consideration: airline connectivity depends on both physical infrastructure and sufficient passenger demand to sustain routes.
That helps explain why building airports alone cannot solve the problem.
A more connected aviation market also requires viable routes, competitive operating conditions and cooperation between countries.
The Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), launched in 2018, is intended to address some of these barriers by liberalising air services across participating countries.
Yet, as with AfCFTA, the challenge remains translating continental commitments into practical connectivity.
Moving people matters as much as moving goods
One of the more interesting findings in Africa on the Move concerns migration.
International discussions about African migration frequently focus on movement towards Europe or other destinations outside the continent.
But the foundation’s research presents a different picture.
During our conversation, Ben explained that approximately 55% of African migrants who leave their country of birth remain within Africa.
For migrants originating in sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion is close to three quarters.
In other words, intra-African migration is already a major economic and social reality.
But formal mobility remains restricted.
According to the foundation’s 2026 report, only around 28% of Africans can travel to another African country without a visa.
That creates barriers for entrepreneurs, workers, students, investors and professionals whose activities increasingly cross national boundaries.
It also raises questions about the relationship between trade integration and labour mobility.
A company may benefit from greater access to regional markets, but moving employees, recruiting skilled workers or establishing operations in neighbouring countries can remain complicated.
During our interview, Ben made a point that captures this contradiction:
“You can’t build a single market if the people that make it work can’t move around it.”
Some countries have already adopted more permissive visa policies.
Ben highlighted Rwanda, Benin, The Gambia and Togo as examples of countries taking steps towards greater openness for African travellers.
Regional economic communities have also made progress in facilitating movement, although arrangements and implementation vary.
The challenge is extending those gains across a much larger and more diverse continental market.
Visa policies are only part of the equation.
Recognition of professional qualifications, access to employment and administrative procedures also affect whether people can take advantage of new economic opportunities.
The lesson is that mobility policies need to develop alongside trade agreements.
Infrastructure investment needs to connect African markets
There is another important lesson running through the report.
Africa needs more infrastructure, but what that infrastructure connects is just as important as how much is built.
The distinction matters as international investment in African transport and logistics networks expands.
China has been involved in major infrastructure projects across the continent, including railways, roads and ports.
The European Union is also supporting transport corridors and other infrastructure through its Global Gateway initiative.
Such investments can address critical development needs.
But the Mo Ibrahim Foundation raises a strategic question about the economic purpose of these networks.
Infrastructure designed primarily to move minerals or other commodities towards export ports does not necessarily serve the same objectives as infrastructure connecting African cities, industries and regional markets.
The difference matters for AfCFTA.
Regional manufacturing and value chains depend on reliable transport between production centres, suppliers and consumers.
An industrial business operating across neighbouring countries needs predictable logistics, efficient border crossings and access to regional markets.
That requires coordination between infrastructure investment and trade policy.
During our conversation, Ben suggested that infrastructure development is gradually moving towards better regional connectivity.
As African cities grow, he expects improved links between urban centres and stronger regional value chains to play a greater role in economic development.
There are already examples of regional cooperation in southern and western Africa.
But progress depends on sustained investment, maintenance, regulatory coordination and political commitment.
The foundation’s report also highlights considerations that are becoming increasingly important for infrastructure financing, including climate resilience and the environmental costs of major construction projects.
Building infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather may raise initial costs, but it is essential to protecting long-term investment.
Infrastructure planning therefore needs to consider economic connectivity, resilience and affordability together.
AfCFTA’s next phase is about execution
The political achievement behind AfCFTA remains significant.
Creating a framework for a continental market across more than 50 countries was never going to be straightforward.
But the next phase may prove more difficult.
It is about execution.
Payments need to become more interoperable.
Roads and railways need to connect across borders.
Airlines need commercially viable routes between African cities.
Customs procedures need to become more efficient.
Professional qualifications need greater cross-border recognition.
And people need to move more easily between countries.
None of these challenges can be solved by a trade agreement alone.
They require cooperation among governments, regulators, businesses, infrastructure providers and financial institutions.
Still, Ben was relatively optimistic about the direction of travel.
Looking ahead five to ten years, he expects progress in regional transport, mobility and payments as countries increasingly recognise the benefits of trading with their neighbours.
He also emphasised that these developments depend on political will and reciprocity.
Governments have legitimate concerns around border management, security and economic competition. Citizens also need to see tangible benefits from greater integration.
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s report is therefore a useful reminder of what African economic integration requires beyond political commitments.
It also raises a larger question about how infrastructure investment should be prioritised.
The potential gains from AfCFTA are substantial, but they depend on reducing the practical costs of moving people, goods, services and money.
AfCFTA created the framework. The next challenge is building the connections that will make it work.
Watch: Africa Without Borders? Trade, Payments and Mobility
In the latest episode of Emerging Markets Today, I speak with Ben Crumpton, Senior Researcher at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, about the findings of Africa on the Move: Boosting Mobility and Connectivity.
We explore the implementation of AfCFTA, aviation and transport infrastructure, intra-African migration, cross-border payments, PAPSS and the prospects for deeper economic integration.
🎥 Watch the full conversation on Spotify
📺 Watch on Substack, with the full transcript
Further reading
