Africa could unlock an additional $77 billion in intra-African trade by closing market and policy gaps, but realizing that potential will require faster industrialisation, stronger regional value chains and expanded trade finance, according to African Export-Import Bank’s (Afreximbank) 2025 Annual Trade Development Effectiveness Report.
The report cites the scale of the opportunity under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) while underscoring the structural constraints that continue to limit commerce among African economies, despite growing investments in manufacturing, payments infrastructure and transport networks.
Afreximbank said it deployed $22.4 billion across 183 investments in 2025, mobilized an additional $13.1 billion in co-financing and issued $6.2 billion in guarantees. Those interventions helped facilitate $8.7 billion in intra-African trade, supported $2.8 billion in manufactured exports, created nearly 209,000 direct jobs and benefited more than 10 million people across the continent.
The findings reinforce the lender’s strategy of financing industrial projects rather than focusing solely on trade finance, as Africa increasingly push to move economies away from exporting raw commodities toward higher-value manufacturing.
According to the report, manufactured and semi-processed goods account for more than 60% of intra-African exports, compared with just 13% to 17% of Africa’s exports outside the continent, which remain dominated by primary commodities.
The bank estimates Africa’s largest unrealized export opportunities lie in minerals and mineral processing, machinery, motor vehicles, electrical equipment, food processing, chemicals and plastics, sectors it says should become priorities for investment under the AfCFTA.
Despite progress, Africa continues to face a trade finance gap exceeding $120 billion annually. Afreximbank said its interventions narrowed that gap by 18.7% in 2025 through $4.8 billion of trade finance lines extended across 26 countries, generating almost 59,000 sub-loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, many owned by women and young entrepreneurs.
The report also points to growing adoption of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), which processed cross-border payments through 72 commercial banks in 27 countries during the year. The platform is designed to reduce reliance on foreign currencies and lower transaction costs for businesses trading within Africa.
Beyond financial infrastructure, Afreximbank has expanded investments in industrial parks, healthcare, transport, agriculture and energy. The African Medical Centre of Excellence in Abuja treated more than 2,000 patients after opening in June 2025, while special economic zones backed by the bank in Benin and Togo attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investment and created thousands of jobs.
The report also notes the economic impact of the Intra-African Trade Fair. The 2025 edition in Algiers attracted more than 112,000 visitors, 2,190 exhibitors and generated $49.94 billion in trade and investment deals. An impact evaluation found that every dollar invested in the fair facilitated $2.20 in intra-African trade and supported 42 additional jobs for every $1 million invested.
The report concludes that Afreximbank has achieved nearly 89% of the objectives under its current five-year strategic plan, which ends in 2026, despite geopolitical tensions and global economic uncertainty.
