Africa’s efforts to expand trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) risk falling short if governments do not also address restrictions on the movement of people across the continent.
The AfCFTA, which seeks to reduce trade barriers and create a single African market, is intended to make it easier for businesses to sell goods and services across national borders. However, traders and professionals still face visa requirements that can complicate travel between African countries.
The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) 2025 Africa Visa Openness Index, produced with the African Union Commission, highlights the scale of the challenge.
Of the 2,862 possible travel routes between Africa’s 54 countries, only 814 allow citizens to travel without a visa. Another 585 permit visas on arrival, while 1,463 require travellers to obtain a visa or equivalent authorisation before departure.
The latter category includes electronic visas, which can be obtained online but must still be secured before travel.
The number of routes requiring advance travel authorisation increased by 115 between 2024 and 2025, according to the index.
For businesses, these restrictions can mean additional costs and delays. A company may have access to a market under a trade agreement but still struggle to send its sales representatives, technicians, managers or service providers there.
Trade agreements and free movement are different
The challenge partly reflects the distinction between the AfCFTA and the African Union’s separate Protocol on Free Movement of Persons.
The AfCFTA covers trade in goods and services, investment and other areas of economic cooperation. Its provisions on services include the temporary movement of natural persons, but the agreement does not establish general visa-free entry, residence and employment rights for all African citizens.
Those broader rights are addressed by the AU Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment, adopted in January 2018.
The protocol provides for a phased process covering visa-free entry, the right of residence and, eventually, the right to establish businesses in other African countries.
However, it has not entered into force because it requires 15 ratifications. The AU’s available records and the 2025 visa openness reporting identify only four countries as having ratified it: Mali, Niger, Rwanda and São Tomé and Príncipe.
This means a country can participate in the AfCFTA without automatically granting citizens of every other participating country visa-free access.
Regional arrangements offer some progress, although their coverage differs.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) adopted a free movement protocol in 1979, providing for the progressive removal of restrictions on entry, residence and establishment.
The East African Community (EAC) also provides for the movement of people, workers and services under its Common Market Protocol, which entered into force in 2010.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), meanwhile, has adopted a Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons.
These arrangements do not remove every practical obstacle. Border controls, national immigration procedures, residency requirements and work authorisations can still affect how easily people move and conduct business across borders.
The economic cost of restricted movement
The economic consequences of limited mobility are difficult to isolate from other barriers to trade, but available figures show why the issue deserves attention.
In his analysis, Karani estimates that 18 of the 19 African countries whose citizens face more visa requirements within Africa than British passport holders account for about $1.3 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP).
He bases the estimate on the International Monetary Fund’s October 2026 World Economic Outlook projections. The IMF does not provide projections for Eritrea, the nineteenth country in the comparison.
Karani estimates that the combined economies represent about 35 per cent of Africa’s projected GDP of $3.67 trillion.
He also puts their average projected economic growth in 2026 at 4.1 per cent, compared with 4.6 per cent for Africa as a whole.
The figures provide an indication of the economic weight of the countries involved, although they do not measure the direct financial cost of visa restrictions.
Trade data also point to the limited level of economic exchange between African countries.
According to Afreximbank’s African Trade Report 2025, intra-African trade accounted for 14.4 per cent of the continent’s total merchandise trade in 2024, down from 14.7 per cent in 2023.
The report estimated the value of trade between African countries at $220.3 billion in 2024, an increase of 12.4 per cent from the previous year.
Despite the growth in value, the figures show that most of Africa’s merchandise trade continues to take place with countries outside the continent.
Governments can act before continental ratification
Karani argues that African governments do not need to wait for the continental free movement protocol to enter into force before easing travel restrictions.
Countries can negotiate reciprocal visa waivers, simplify short-term business travel procedures and extend existing regional arrangements to additional partners.
The African Union Executive Council, at its February 2025 session, also encouraged member states to advance free movement efforts individually and collectively, while calling for stronger coordination among regional economic communities.
However, easier entry does not automatically grant a visitor permission to work or provide paid services.
A businessperson travelling for meetings may face different requirements from a technician undertaking paid work or a professional providing services regulated by the host country.
Governments therefore need to address both immigration procedures and the rules governing the provision of services across borders.
For the AfCFTA to expand trade between African countries, businesses must be able to reach the markets created by the agreement. Reducing barriers to goods and services will have limited effect if the people responsible for delivering them continue to face unnecessary restrictions when crossing borders.
Written by John Karani, Secretary General of the African Supply Chain Confederation (ASCON). Additional editing by Lifestyle Uganda.
