LiFT Africa: Connecting the Continent to unlock trade
By Swazi Tshabalala
Africa cannot trade if it cannot connect. Intra-African trade makes up just 15% of total exports—compared to over 60% in Europe and Asia. This is not a failure of ambition. It is a failure of connectivity. And it is holding back growth, integration, and resilience across the continent.
My vision is to position the African Development Bank as the leading driver of regional integration—not just through advocacy, but through execution. Because regional trade agreements cannot function without regional infrastructure.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is the most important policy lever for Africa’s economic future. But it will only succeed if it is underpinned by systems that work—corridors that connect, borders that move, payments systems that ensure smooth trade settlement, and platforms that scale.
This is where the first pillar of my LiFT Africa strategy comes in: large-scale, integrated infrastructure. That means investing in logistics corridors, rail, ports, and power pools that cross—not stop at—borders. But it also means investing in policy linkages: harmonised customs, aligned regulations, and digital platforms that make it easier for African businesses to move across countries without cost or delay.
Infrastructure without policy is concrete without purpose. A corridor is only as powerful as the customs system it connects to. A regional energy pool only works when the agreements behind it are bankable. That’s why the AfDB must lead not only in financing the assets, but in de-risking the rules around them.
The Bank must also lead in building the confidence to trade. That means expanding trade finance to African SMEs, helping national governments fast-track trade facilitation, and using concessional resources to reduce the friction costs that keep cross-border businesses from growing. Africa’s trade potential is real—but it needs infrastructure that delivers and institutions that trust each other.
This is what LiFT Africa is designed to do: connect infrastructure to policy, and strategy to delivery. We will build regional integration into the Bank’s core operations—not as a side project, but as a structural priority. That means fast-disbursing platforms, cross-border project preparation, and performance dashboards that track not only spending, but system change.
Because Africa’s future is regional. And the AfDB must be the institution that builds it that way.
Swazi Tshabalala is a candidate for President of the African Development Bank and former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Bank.
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