Africa’s biggest trade obstacles are occurring within countries rather than at the border, with about 60 per cent of total trade costs coming from behind-the-border barriers, according to a World Bank report.

The finding is contained in the World Bank’s Integrating Africa: From Threads to Hubs, which identifies customs clearance inefficiencies, regulatory misalignment, weak logistics services, fragmented transit systems and poor infrastructure as major sources of trade costs across the continent.

The finding challenges the traditional focus on tariffs and border controls as the main obstacles to African trade, suggesting that reducing tariffs alone will not be enough to significantly lower the cost of trading across the continent.

The report said the dominant friction costs affecting African trade are not tariffs but barriers arising within countries.

“About 60 per cent of total trade costs stem from unilateral sources,” the report said.

“These costs arise mainly from domestic institutional constraints: customs clearance inefficiencies, unaligned regulatory frameworks, suboptimal logistics services, transit fragmentation, and poor infrastructure,” the report added.

The report said these problems are compounded by barriers encountered directly at national borders.

“Bilateral frictions at border posts, including divergent product standards, nonmutual recognition of licenses and permits, and weak transit regimes, further compound these issues,” it said.

The researchers said this means Africa’s trade challenge is not primarily about tariffs.

“The key insight is that Africa’s trade bottleneck is not tariff barriers but regulatory and procedural fragmentation both behind and at the borders,” the report noted.

The report argues that the finding should change how African countries approach economic integration. Rather than focusing mainly on liberalisation, countries need to make the different systems governing trade work effectively with one another.

“This understanding reframes the integration agenda: reducing trade costs in Africa is not primarily about liberalization but is about making systems interoperable,” the report said.

It said the problem persists even where tariffs have been reduced because the systems supporting trade remain disconnected.

The report noted that where systems work together, trade and production networks can emerge, but where they do not, integration can stall even when tariffs are zero.

“Do not ask whether the border is open; ask whether systems can talk, whether trucks and goods can move, whether data and money can flow, and whether firms can operate across jurisdictions.”

The findings are particularly relevant to Nigeria and other West African economies, where cross-border road transport remains an important part of regional trade.

The report identifies West and Central Africa as regions where cross-border road transportation continues to face high logistics costs, regulatory fragmentation and limited competition.

The World Bank assessment comes on the heels of Nigeria’s selection by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat as the pilot country in West Africa for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat’s Simplified Trade Regime (STR).

The STR is a framework designed to make cross-border trade easier for small-scale traders.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada, announced the development, highlighting Nigeria’s role in advancing intra-African trade and supporting small-scale traders who often face complex customs procedures and high transaction costs.

The development provides a practical example of the type of trade facilitation reform highlighted by the World Bank, particularly its emphasis on simplifying customs procedures and reducing the costs businesses face when trading across African borders.

Africa’s merchandise exports had risen 14% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, the second-highest regional growth rate after Asia, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The WTO disclosed this in its latest Global Trade Outlook, which said the increase was driven by higher exports of precious metals and gold, copper, fertilisers and ores, while cocoa and fuel exports declined during the period.

Africa’s 14% growth matched that of South and Central America but trailed Asia’s 20% increase, highlighting the continent’s growing trade performance even as significant domestic and cross-border barriers continue to raise the cost of doing business.