Executive Summary 

With global trade in disarray, Africa, though poised for growth, faces severe economic challenges. The continent must respond decisively to avoid losing the momentum it has already begun to build.

This report outlines a suggested roadmap for Africa’s rise to a US$7-trillion economy over the next decade, aligned with the “Africa for Africa” vision of Agenda 2063. The recommendations recognise that each African country comes with its own unique contexts and challenges.

The authors offer pragmatic policy measures aimed at enabling the continent to achieve the US$7-trillion target in the next decade.

First, Africa must harness its greatest asset—its demography. For one, investments in quality education, skilling, and an enabling environment for young entrepreneurs are essential to sustain growth. The so-called ‘demographic dividend’ must be leveraged through training and education aligned with ‘jobs of the future’ which account for technological advancements and demographic changes.

Second, digital technologies should be leveraged to meet the goals of trade facilitation. As trade drives growth, an enabling trading environment is crucial for Africa’s participation in the global economy. With digital trade and connectivity infrastructure advancing worldwide, African countries must act as first movers, not late adopters.

Third, trade finance must be mobilised on a larger scale. A key step is reducing the high risk of doing business in Africa. Political stability, driven by African citizens themselves, will attract greater investment and, in turn, expand financing to support trade.

Fourth, targeted budgeting for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and project-based financing must be made integral to policy. African countries should also mobilise long-term capital through blended and green finance, leveraging partnerships at multilateral forums such as BRICS and the G20. These platforms can help forge ties with institutional investors, scale blended finance, create ESG-aligned capital markets, and attract private capital at scale.

Fifth, connectivity is crucial. Especially in these times of global turmoil, connecting Africa to Africa is an imperative first step in trade facilitation. It is essential for Africa to institutionalise regional infrastructure compacts for collective scale by empowering regional blocs, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). This can be done by coordinating their respective infrastructure priorities, pooling capital, negotiating unified standards, and attracting large-scale, cross-border investment.

Sixth, investment in modern connectivity and logistics infrastructure—ports, roads to warehouses, and efficient customs facilities—is essential to reduce the impact of external shocks on intra-African trade. Investments and technology transfer must ensure that infrastructure projects meet the connectivity goals of Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Seventh, Africa must refocus on healthcare and food security. Extreme weather events already impose severe social, economic, and environmental constraints. Addressing food security through climate-smart traditional farming techniques can be a good start. In addition, black-swan events like the COVID-19 pandemic and other local epidemics continue to ravage the continent despite some progress.

Eighth, Africa has unique strengths in a number of different sectors, most notably critical minerals. Rather than leaving this as an extractive industry, governments must design policies that create value in Africa for Africa. Regional value chains in Africa must be supported to ensure that domestic economies grow at a more sustainable rate.

Ninth, climate and adaptation finance is crucial. To meet the climate finance needed for the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Africa’s current flows must increase at least fourfold, especially from diverse public and private sources. Scaling up private capital is crucial to adequately finance green investments. Innovative public finance should be encouraged where spillovers are large or revenue streams too limited to attract private capital. To enable this, blended finance mechanisms at scale must be deployed to reduce cost of capital and mitigate risks on the path to achieving climate and green transitions in the continent.

Finally, fostering intra-Africa partnerships is essential. Integration offers far more than competition within the continent. Disparities between Francophone and Anglophone regions, and between landlocked and coastal states, must be addressed as a starting point. With the right investments in technology and skilling, African countries can move up the value chain, producing for global markets while also expanding as consumers of both their own commodities and those of other economies.

Read the report here.

All views expressed in this publication are solely those of the authors, and do not represent the Observer Research Foundation, either in its entirety or its officials and personnel.

• International Affairs
• Developing and Emerging Economies
• Africa
• 2035 agenda
• AfCFTA
• africa economic outlook 2025
• africa for africa vision
• african continental free trade area
• african union
• african union countries
• agenda 2063
• agenda 2063 Africa
• development projects in Africa
• food security in africa
• sdg based financing

The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.

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