In Africa, intra-trade serves as a catalyst for the continent's advancement in addition to being vital to its economy. Regional integration plays an important role for promoting political stability, peace, and security throughout Africa. Trade has a unique power to close gaps and develop interdependence between African nations.
Intra-African trade fosters regional integration by fostering collaboration among African countries, resulting in the creation of common infrastructure, harmonized rules, and the removal of trade obstacles.
Initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) are critical in this respect. The AfCFTA intends to create a single market for products and services spanning 54 African countries, making it the world's biggest free trade area in terms of member countries.
According to African Trade Report 2024; Climate Implications of the AfCFTA Implementation, by Afreximbank, trade within Africa grew to US$192.2 billion in 2023, a 3.2% increase from the impressive 10.9% growth in 2022. Inter-African commerce showed impressive endurance in the face of a slowdown in the global economy and significant obstacles encountered by a number of countries.
Additionally, Africa's percentage of all intra-continental trade increased to 14.9% from 13.6 in 2022.
This upward pattern is a result of cooperative initiatives taken by countries around the continent, such as the ongoing implementation of the AfCFTA, with the goal of promoting commerce inside Africa.
"However, the aggregate figures mask significant regional disparities. With its remarkable growth rate of 41.1 percent in its trade with neighboring countries, Southern Africa reinforced its position as the leading driver of intra-African trade in 2023," the report reads.
"West Africa also solidified its position as the second-largest intraAfrican trading subregion, accounting for 25.7 percent of total intra-African trade. East Africa emerged as the third-largest intra-African trading subregion, contributing 14.1 percent. North and Central Africa accounted for about 12.4 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively, of total intra-African trade," it adds.
With that said here are the top 10 African countries with the highest Intra-African Exports
Top 10 African countries with the largest exports to fellow African countries
| 1 | South Africa | 29.61 | -1.34 | 26.83 |
| 2 | Côte d'Ivoire | 11.38 | 26.40 | 10.31 |
| 3 | Egypt | 6.61 | 18.69 | 5.99 |
| 4 | Ghana | 6.02 | 27.23 | 5.46 |
| 5 | Nigeria | 5.63 | 8.18 | 5.10 |
| 6 | Morocco | 3.78 | 7.39 | 3.42 |
| 7 | DRC | 3.34 | -7.79 | 3.03 |
| 8 | Zambia | 3.17 | 9.47 | 2.87 |
| 9 | Namibia | 3.15 | 20.22 | 2.85 |
| 10 | Tanzania | 3.13 | 18.29 | 2.83 |
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