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Exporting under AfCFTA still a challenge for African companies posturing a significant threat to intra-regional trade.

  The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) offers an opportunity for businesses to take advantage of vast market potential across the African continent. To maximize the benefits of AfCFTA, Africans need to unite and tackle the challenges that exist with the intention to have the Africa we want becoming a reality. the question is , Is Africa a nation or decimated nations at loggerheads? the answer to this question assist in the integration equation of our beloved continent.  The challenges include interalia - The fragmentation of markets due to different regulations, tariffs, and customs procedures across different RECs - The complexity of rules of origin and their different implementation across different RECs - The allegiance to former colonial powers among Lusophone, Francophone, and Anglophone countries within Africa that creates differences in regulatory standards across countries - The bureaucratic pathologies such as duplication of customs requirements, variations
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Challenges that need redress for SMEs flourish under the AfCFTA.

By Levious Chiukira   Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) continue to face unwarranted barriers in cross-border trade under the current trading regime. Unless specific measures are taken to eliminate these barriers under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), SMEs will continue to face the same challenges. The  World Bank  estimates that if the AfCFTA's goals are fully realized, 50 million people could escape extreme poverty by 2035, and real income could rise by 9 per cent. Under deep integration, Africa's exports to the rest of the world would go up by 32 per cent by 2035, and intra-African exports would grow by 109 per cent, led by manufactured goods. However, these predictions were made without adequate policy interventions to facilitate SMEs to benefit from the establishment fully. Research by  International Trade Centre (2022)  highlighted that despite the excitement in capitals and overseas about the AfCFTA, only some African firms are aware of the regiona
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Special Economic Zones and their benefits to the Zimbabwe industry

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  By Tanatsiwa Dambuza Special Economic Zones  are geographical regions with economic laws that are more free-market-oriented than a country's typical national law. Special Economic Zones (SEZ) are still in their nascent embryotic stage yet progressively developing in Zimbabwe. The  Special Economic Zones Act  [Chapters 14-34], which came into force in November 2016 and was repealed by the ZIDA ACT, provided for the establishment of the Zimbabwe Special Economic Zones Authority, which according to section 20, has the power or authority to declare any area or premises to be a special economic zone and to amend, add to or abolish any special economic. The core functions of the Authority included administering and controlling SEZs, granting investment licences, and monitoring activities of approved investments.  Zimbabwe's main objective under Zimbabwe Open for Business Mantra is to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), boost exports, link to global value chains and struc
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Bonded warehouse and their management in Zimbabwe.

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What is a bonded warehouse? A bonded warehouse is a place, a building or other secured area in which dutiable goods may be stored for after importation or manufacture without payment of duties due to customs. In simple terms, it is a duty-free zone or area which has been granted the rights to store goods waiting final clearance by customs.  Bonded warehouses provide specialized storage services such as deep freeze or bulk liquid storage, commodity processing, and coordination with transportation, and are an integral part of the global supply chain. There are basically two types of bonded warehouses namely wet and dry. Wet bonded warehouses are the ones in which alcohol and tobacco may be stored. Dry storage are for any other goods as approved by the Commissioner. The main objective of using a bonded warehouse is to keep all materials at stock, till the time they are to be used, sold or transported to somewhere else in the country or outside for exports. How does a bonded wareho
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Role of ZIDA in promoting SMEs and domestic investments in Zimbabwe.

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  The introduction of the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) brought joy and hope to both domestic and foreign investors who had endured the tiresome and bureaucratic processes experienced in the past. With the promulgation of the ZIDA Act, it was a signal from the government that the days of the honeymoon were over to unnecessary bottlenecks, which resulted in the loss of potential investments in the country. The ZIDA comes when Zimbabwe is recovering from an economic meltdown which has resulted in capital flight, downsizing and closure of formal business. The same epoch also resulted in the mushrooming of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which took advantage of the gaps and created employment for laid-off workers. There have been calls for policies and regulations to support the growth of the SME sector, and research has shown that they contribute to over 50% of the country’s GDP. What is lacking in Zimbabwe has been having the right policies that assist in the SME
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Recovery cost on infrastructure becoming non-tariff barrier to trade case of Zimbabwe Beitbridge Border Post Upgrade.

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  Recovery cost on infrastructure becoming non-tariff barrier to trade case of Zimbabwe Beitbridge Border Post Upgrade.   From a global perspective, movement of commercial trade across the globe has witnessed a well-coordinated transport network through economic liberalization making it possible for firms in the industrial and retail sector to register tremendous growth, with reference to the developed countries (Hanif and Kaluwa 2016). The efforts at global level have been the eradication of both tariff and non-tariff barriers with the implementation of World Trade Organisation Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA). The major thrust has been on eradication of mainly non-tariff barriers which have continued to resurface in different forms regardless of the efforts being put. The major cost drive in Africa has remained related to transport and logistics which are high as compared to other regions. Of late the dilapidated railways systems have put pressure on road infrastructure
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Location: Harare, Zimbabwe
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Debunking the informality of Cross-Border Trade (CBT) in Southern Africa.

  Debunking the informality of Cross-Border Trade (CBT) in Southern Africa   The article seeks to debunk the common usage of the word ‘informal’   in relation to cross-border activities carried out by the native Africans across the borders.   the author introduces the need to approach cross-border trade activities from a constructivist view of formality and recognize it as a formal sector. This has been necessitated by continued labels put on this trade despite its positives to the region as a whole. To   Devey & Valoidia   (2009)when studying cross-border trade formality and informality should be viewed as a continuum and not as exclusive dichotomies The CBT involves the movement of the physical movement of not only goods but also people across borders.   Cross-Border Trading has remained an important form of trade in many developing countries. CBT according to studies assisted in the cushioning of the African continent from the global financial crisis as people took advantage o
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