Tuesday, August 5, 2025
23.1 C
Lagos

2019 Africa Visa Openness Index: AU, AfDB Reports Improved Visa Regime in Africa

For the first time, African travellers have liberal access to over half the continent, the 2019 Africa Visa Openness Index published by the African Union Commission and African Development Bank, reveals. The report was launched on Monday on the sidelines of the Africa Investment Forum, which opened in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The progress on visa openness in Africa follows growing momentum for greater integration between countries and signals that policymakers across the continent are pushing reforms, making it easier for African businessmen and women, investors, students and tourists to travel.
This fourth edition of the Index shows that 47 countries improved or maintained their visa openness scores in 2019. African visitors no longer need a visa to travel to a quarter of other African countries, whereas visa-free travel was only possible to a fifth of the continent in 2016.

Currently, 21 African countries also offer eVisas to make travel more accessible, up from up from 16 in 2018, 13 in 2017, and 9 in 2016).
The 2019 top performers on visa openness rank among the top countries for foreign direct investment in Africa, and benefit from strong levels of growth, including in tourism. The Index shows that Seychelles and Benin remain the top two countries on visa openness in Africa, with their visa-free policy for all African visitors. Ethiopia moved up a record 32 places on the Index and entered the top 20 most visa-open countries in Africa.
African Development Bank President Akinwumi A. Adesina said, “Our work on the Africa Visa Openness Index continues to monitor how Africa is doing on free movement of people. Progress is being made but much still needs to be done. To integrate Africa, we should bring down the walls. The free movement of people, and especially labour mobility, are crucial for promoting investments.”
Despite the gains shown in the report, there is the need to move further. In 2019, only 26% of Africans are able to get visas on arrival in other African countries, up by only 1% compared to 2016.

spot_img
spot_img

Hot this week

Investor Confidence: Stanbic IBTC Holdings Surpasses ₦100 Stock Price Threshold

Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has achieved a remarkable milestone,...

Leadway Assurance Partners Ecobank to Expand Access to Tailored Insurance Solutions

Leadway Assurance, Nigeria's leading insurance provider, has formally entered...

ICAN Fidelity Bank Chapter Chair to Focus on Capacity Building, Professional Excellence

L-R: Chairman of the Occasion and Regional Bank Head...

Sterling HoldCo Delivers 157% Profit Growth in Half-Year 2025

Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc has reported a 157%...

SEC: Why We Granted “No Objection” to First Holdco Transaction

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria wishes to...

Topics

NCC: ‘No Invalid 95.7m SIM Data, Verification is a Continuous Exercise’

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has re-assured Nigerians that...

NCC to Subsidise InfraCos for Broadband Penetration

As part of its plans to boost broadband penetration...

Saraki’s Albatross: The Need to Sheath Animosity

When the 2015 general elections were approaching, the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) preached and campaigned transformation and transition from the status quo that the former ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) used in administering the affairs of the nation for nearly two decades. The APC clamoured for substitution of the then state of affairs. They adduced reasons why it was good for Nigeria to make the 2015 election and its aftermath different in some particular ways, without permanently losing former characteristics or essence of nationhood to replace what they described as slow pace of development which is change.

NCC-CSIRT: The Countermeasures Against Website Scams on Microsoft Edge Browser

The Nigerian Communications Commission's Computer Security Incident Response Team...

Arthur Andersen: Fall From Grace-A Sad Tale of Greed!

At "Andersen U.," the lush, 150-acre campus where Arthur Andersen LLP has trained tens of thousands of new recruits, there's a shrinento ethical accounting. A display in the Andersen Heritage Center is devoted to yellowing press clippings of a long-ago campaign to clean up the accounting industry by Leonard Spacek, who led the firm from 1947 to 1963. In one, he accused Bethlehem Steel of overstating its profits in 1964 by more than 60%. In another, he bashed the Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to crack down on companies that cooked their books, saying that at best the regulatory agency has been "a brake on the rate of retrogression in the quality of accounting."

CHI Pays Accident Claims of NAIPCO Member 

Consolidated Hallmark Insurance (CHI) Plc has paid accident claims of...

Akwa Ibom: Sustainable Development in Nigeria’s Prime Investment Destination

Seen from afar, Nigeria is one large African nation...
spot_img

Related Articles

Popular Categories

spot_imgspot_img