Africa’s merchandise trade reached a record $1.5 trillion in 2025, yet a $74 billion trade finance shortfall and a continuing decline in correspondent banking relationships are limiting the continent’s ability to convert that momentum into durable economic gains.
The findings come from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank)’s 2026 African Trade Report, which tracks trade, financing, and macroeconomic conditions across the continent. The report found that Africa’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth accelerated to 4.5% in 2025, up from 3.4% the previous year — outpacing global growth, which slowed to 3.4% over the same period and is projected to ease further to 3.1% in 2026.
Merchandise trade expanded 6.1% during the year, while aggregate inflation across the continent fell sharply to 13.1% from 21.6% in 2024. Afreximbank attributed the improved performance to better macroeconomic conditions, policy reforms, and support from development finance institutions.
The financing bottleneck
Despite the headline growth, the report identifies a structural fault line running through Africa’s trade architecture. The $74 billion trade finance gap — the difference between demand for trade financing and what banks and financial institutions currently supply — is compounded by foreign exchange liquidity shortages and the erosion of correspondent banking relationships, the cross-border arrangements through which banks process international payments on each other’s behalf.
The decline in these relationships, a trend driven partly by tightening compliance requirements at global banks, restricts the flow of financing for cross-border transactions and disproportionately affects smaller economies and financial institutions with limited international reach.
Disruptions to international shipping networks have added further pressure, pushing up freight costs and extending delivery times — a particular burden for economies that depend on imported industrial inputs.
Supply chain shifts create an opening
In addition, the report argues that the ongoing reordering of global supply chains, driven by geopolitical rivalries and efforts by multinationals to diversify production away from traditional manufacturing hubs, presents a genuine opportunity for African economies. Countries that can strengthen manufacturing capacity and move higher up global value chains stand to attract new investment flows as companies seek alternative production bases.
Realising that potential, however, will require addressing the structural constraints the report flags: inadequate transport infrastructure, shallow regional value chains, and — most urgently for financial services professionals — the persistent gap in trade finance.
Regional integration as a buffer
The report situates these challenges within the broader push to accelerate implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the landmark agreement aimed at creating a single continental market. Intra-African trade remains well below the levels of integration seen in Europe and Asia, and policymakers increasingly view regional commerce as a way to reduce exposure to commodity price cycles and external shocks.
Afreximbank also highlighted the growing role of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), a platform that enables businesses to settle cross-border transactions in local currencies, reducing dependence on hard currencies such as the US dollar and lowering transaction costs for traders operating across borders.
The bank said it disbursed $17.5 billion in financing during 2024 and has set a target to double intra-African trade finance by 2026. Headquartered in Cairo, Afreximbank is one of the continent’s largest multilateral financial institutions and a central financier of AfCFTA implementation.
The report concludes that sustaining Africa’s growth trajectory will depend on accelerating industrialisation, expanding logistics networks, and — critically — closing the trade finance gap that continues to constrain the continent’s integration into evolving global supply chains.
