| Summary: | The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement will create the largest free-trade area in the world, measured by the number of countries participating. The pact connects 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a combined GDP valued at USD 3.4 trillion. It has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty. But achieving its full potential will depend on putting in place significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures. This report is designed to guide policymakers as they continue the process of negotiating and implementing the agreement. Using a global computable general equilibrium model and a microsimulation framework, it quantifies the long-term economic and distributional implications of AfCFTA. It also assesses the implications for economic growth, international trade, poverty, and employment and wages -for female as well as male workers. It spells out the short- and long-term implications for tariff revenue. The analysis shows that full implementation of AfCFTA could boost income by 7 percent, or nearly USD 450 billion. The agreement would also significantly expand African trade-particularly intra-regional trade in manufacturing. In addition, it would increase employment opportunities and wages for unskilled workers and help to close the wage gap between men and women--
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