A giant no longer in needless slumber, Africa is unarguably waltzing into the global limelight as a consequence of strong-armed efforts to place technology at the heart of the continent's economic transformation. Yet, the colossus of a region is best known as a cluster of low to middle-income countries heavily dependent on an array of natural resources.
While the tech revolution is afoot to the glare of the global economy, the trade of physical commodities within and outside its borders remains the principal source of national wealth. As there is a huge price tag on commodity exchange, most African economies rely on the export of everything from coffee to maize and from sugar to crude oil—mostly with the rest of the world.
But, even so, such trade is far from perfect, especially within the continent; intra-African trade is substantially less than what is obtainable in other continents of the world. This exchange deficit formed the premises for the welcomed introduction of the often-referenced and now-operational African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Pan-African Payment Settlement System (PAPSS) as a financial underpinning.
