While corridors serve as economic arteries for intra-African trade and provide port access for landlocked countries and the hinterland, they also serve as vectors of disease.This came to prominence when the spread of Aids was traced along road transport corridors, according to Paul Brenton and Vicky Chemutai, authors of a World Bank guidance note.The same patterns can be seen with the spread of Covid-19.Government response has been to close borders and restrict the movement of cargo on transport corridors.There has been a subsequent sharp drop in economic growth and a rise in poverty and joblessness across the continent. Arguing that it is counter-productive to close borders, Brenton and Chumutai state “trade in both goods and services will play a key role in overcoming the pandemic and limiting its health and economic impact, especially on the poor.“Africa has the highest number of landlocked countries in the world, and they require continued access to the regional and global economy through trade corridors and the main ports,” they state.Researcher Edward Asiedu says that prior to the signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the majority of enterprises in Africa considered customs and trade regulations as a major constraint to intra-African trade.This has changed.A direct impact from Covid-19 was the deferral of the implementation of the AfCFTA agreement, which was planned to come into force on July 1, 2020.It was postponed to January 1, 2021. “Covid-19 management systems instituted by countries at a time the AfCFTA was in its critical phase of implementation have directly impacted intra-African trade. “These measures have included travel bans, border closures, mandatory quarantine, partial lockdowns, and total local lockdowns. “Negotiation of key aspects of the agreements, such as Rule of Origin and Schedules of Tariff Concession stalled due to the outbreak of Covid-19, as some of these aspects of the agreement require physical contacts to achieve full operationalisation of the agreement,” he writes.At the same time African exporters and importers have to cope with global supply chain disruptions which, according to many experts, are going to get worse before they get better.This could be turned into an opportunity by stimulating intra-African trade. If we can’t trade with the world, we could trade more with each other – providing governments prioritise the free f low of goods during and between Covid outbreaks.
