…The 5th Africa CEO Trade Report highlights resilience, digitisation, and sustainability as key drivers of Africa’s trade future.
THUR OCT 16 2025-theGBJournal| The Pan-African Private Sector Trade Report and Investment Committee (PAFTRAC), in partnership with African Business, launched the Africa CEO Trade Report 2025 on the sidelines of the WTO Public Forum today.
The report, based on responses from more than 2000 senior executives across 51 African countries, provides the most comprehensive snapshot yet of how African businesses are navigating today’s uncertain and turbulent global economy.
The highest number of responses to the survey came from Egypt (11.61%), Ethiopia (9.69%), Nigeria (7.68%), Algeria and Tunisia (4.43% each), Senegal (4.25%), Kenya (4.16%) followed by Ghana, Morocco, Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire, Angola, Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo at over 3%, with the other responses less than 3%.
Some responses were received from non-African countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Qatar, France, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, United States, Bahrain and Jordan.
Key findings from the report include:
AfCFTA resilience: Almost all respondents (98%) see the AfCFTA as crucial to safeguarding Africa’s trade interests, with over half rating it “extremely important.”
Digital leap: More than half of African firms now use digital payments, though high costs, poor internet connectivity, and cybersecurity risks remain barriers.
Green momentum: 98% of executives believe sustainability is central to future trade strategy.
New frontiers: Businesses are increasingly exploring partnerships with the Gulf States and the Caribbean.
According to the report made available to theG&BJournal, at a strategic level, Africa is well positioned for growth in a world where trade is expected to double over the next decade.
This is no less the case for African companies themselves, which are also looking at new opportunities on their own continent to address issues such as cost, risk and market gaps.
It is in this context that the AfCFTA has gained in prominence as a vehicle for not just improving intra-African trade but for protecting Africa’s trade interests.
This shift was evident in the PAFTRAC survey, where 48.74% of respondents said the AfCFTA was ”extremely important” for protecting Africa’s trade interests, while a further 29.61% said it was ”very important” and 17.48% said it was ”important”.
Just 4.17% said it was not important at all, suggesting that this group may have been respondents based outside Africa.
PAFTRAC survey included a question about engagement with the Gulf states in the wake of uncertainty in global markets, driven by protectionist policies, trade wars, and geopolitical instability.
More than 30% of respondents surveyed said they currently interact with the Gulf and plan to continue to do so, while 41.37% said they had no past interactions although they were interested in exploring them in the future, indicating that the region is very much on the radar.
A small number, 6.95%, said they had had previous business interactions with the region but had no plans to continue. A related question delved into trade between African and Caribbean countries.
This showed some similar outcomes from respondents, with 43.95% saying they have not engaged with this region but are interested in exploring possibilities in the future.
Another 17.02% said they are currently interacting with the region and plan to continue.
However, unlike the more positive result for the Gulf region, 32.16% said they had not engaged with Caribbean countries and had no plans to do so in the future, and 6.87% indicated they had interacted with these markets in the past but had no plans to continue.
The report notes that this is unsurprising given that trade between the two regions is historically below 6% of total exports for both regions.
The main driver for trade relations between Africa and the Caribbean has been Afreximbank, which has established an office in Barbados and helped to develop the CARICOM Payment and Settlement System (CAPSS).
The bank also launched the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) in Barbados in 2022, designed as an annual event to foster deeper economic cooperation between the regions.
Commenting on the report’s findings, Professor Patrick Utomi, Chairperson of PAFTRAC, said: “The AfCFTA offers a foundation for building integrated markets and value chains, while digitisation and sustainability provide the means to future-proof African trade.”
The report comes at a time when global trade is disrupted by U.S. tariff hikes, geopolitical tensions, and fragile supply chains.
African businesses, however, are responding with resilience and strategic foresight, reinforcing the continent’s role in shaping a fairer and more inclusive global economy.
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