The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) requires an estimated $411 billion in transport infrastructure to facilitate efficient intracontinental trade, according to Antonio Pedro, deputy executive secretary for programme support at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

Pedro, speaking at the 2025 Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, described AfCFTA as both a development blueprint and a powerful political platform aimed at transforming Africa’s trade landscape.

“An important study we did in 2022 on ‘Implications of AfCFTA for Demand of Transport Infrastructure and Services’ projected that about $411 billion in transport equipment will be required because of the AfCFTA, including $4 billion for 135 vessels, $25 billion for 243 aircraft, $36 billion for 169,000 rail wagons, and $345 billion for over 2.2 million trucks,” he said.

The trade agreement, which seeks to establish a single market for the continent’s 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of up to $3 trillion, aims to eliminate tariffs on 90 percent of goods while addressing non-tariff barriers.

Pedro noted that investing in railway infrastructure and fleets could increase intra-African trade by rail from less than one percent today to nearly seven percent, a projected rise of 5.5 percent.

Source: BUSINESSDAY