Malawi has ratified the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), counting as the 35th country to ratify the pact.

While the country was preparing to ratify the pact, stakeholders weighed in the pros and cons of the development; the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) said that subjecting the manufacturing sector, which is still in its infancy, to rigorous pressure and competition from other countries would render it “completely dead”, said the MCCCI director of business environment and policy advocacy Madalitso Kazembe, suggesting that Malawi has to “prepare” before it ratifies, or the country will be affected. “Government needs to bring in incentives to make sure the manufacturing sector becomes more productive like the taxation issues, smuggling, infrastructure, energy and telecommunications.” said Kazembe.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Trade Principal Secretary Christina Zakeyu observed that while as a least developed country with low industrial base and customs revenue dependent, Malawi’s ability to trade in a way that promotes development is constrained by crippling supply-side constraints.