South Africa’s among the continental heavyweights that have ratified it.

It’s hoped Nigeria will join to boost intra-African trade in a market of 1,2 billion people worth $2,5 trillion.

The operational phase of the Africa Free Trade Agreement will be launched at the AU summit in Niger on July 7.

Work to be done includes agreeing on arbitration, certificates of origin of goods, tackling corruption and improving infrastructure.

Critics cite  the most serious challenges as poor infrastructure and lack of diversity.

When fully operational, the AFTA will boost intra-African trade by 60%.

Currently only 16% of African trade is between countries of the continent.

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The Maputo government’s hoping money from the international donor conference in Beira at the end of this month will come with fewer strings attached.

The IMF is taking $118-million from its Rapid Credit Facility to make a loan to Mozambique.

It’s demanding budget cuts from the government of President Felipe Nyusi and the reallocation of priority spending to help the poorest citizens rebuild their homes destroyed by cyclones Idai and Kenneth.

The World Bank’s making a $350-million grant  Mozambique that will be tightly controlled to ensure spending  infrastructure repair, re-establishing crops, food security, disease control, social assistance and building early warning systems.

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They say the measures the South African President  outlined to the media in Pretoria yesterday (Friday) contain no new injection of money into the economy that slipped into recession last month. At best it can be termed a recovery programme.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is adamant that South Africa economic salvation lies in attracting foreign investment.

His remarks to the media yesterday – presaged by his briefing to the diplomatic corps a week earlier – laid the foundation  for an investment summit in Johannesburg next month.

He has not put flesh on the bones of his promise to invest in infrastructure and ease the country’s tough visa regime that deters skilled foreign visitors and tourists.

He is redirecting nearly three billion euros, already in the Budget, to those areas of the economy that will most impact youth, women and small business.

Neither he nor his Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene would say which sectors will have to sacrifice their Budget allocation.

Ramaphoa will also redirect 15 billion euros to the infrastructure development  and the agriculture sector.

He says this is designed to respire the economy, attract investment and save jobs.

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