Preliminary results from the 2026 PAFTRAC Africa CEO Trade Survey, presented at the WTO Public Forum in Geneva, revealed that 81.3% of senior executives expect their cross-border activity to expand over the next twelve months.
Intra-African commerce has overtaken China, Europe, and the United States as executives' principal target destination. However, intra-African merchandise trade remains stalled at 15-18% of total exports, showing negligible change despite the operational rollout of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The survey, now in its sixth year and expanded from 400 respondents in 2021 to over 2,500 in 2026, is the most robust barometer of African executive sentiment on trade available. Its findings point to a continent where the appetite for regional integration is outpacing the systems designed to enable it.
At the centre of that structural gap sits a financing barrier that goes beyond access to capital. African sovereign and institutional borrowers consistently attract risk ratings from Western credit agencies that, according to IFC analysis, impose an estimated excess premium of $31 billion annually.
Originally published by African Business.