(Ecofin Agency) - The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will have a positive impact on intra-regional trade, 72 % of African CEOs think. This is the outcome of a survey published on May 9, 2019, by the Oxford Business Group (OBG).

Baptized “Business Barometer 2019: Africa CEO survey,” the survey which was conducted on a face-to-face basis with 787 African CEOs also revealed that 84% of them have positive expectations of local business conditions in the coming twelve months.

The respondents’ companies are based in eight African countries namely, Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Djibouti, Algeria and Côte d’Ivoire.

78% of them also indicated that their firms were planning at least one significant investment in the next twelve months.

38% think that the factor the most likely to affect their economy would be a rise in oil prices. The second factor being political or security instability in neighboring countries, according to 23% of the respondents.

Interrogated on the most needed skills in their countries, 36% of the respondents revealed that leadership was most needed while research, development and engineering were chosen by 14% as the most needed competence.