Nontariff barriers Africa faces : what did the Uruguay Round accomplish, and what remains to be done?

Nontariff barriers Africa faces : what did the Uruguay Round accomplish, and what remains to be done? PDF Author: Azita Amjadi
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 46

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Nontariff barriers Africa faces : what did the Uruguay Round accomplish, and what remains to be done?

Nontariff barriers Africa faces : what did the Uruguay Round accomplish, and what remains to be done? PDF Author: Azita Amjadi
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 46

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Book Description


Nontariff Barriers Africa Faces

Nontariff Barriers Africa Faces PDF Author: Alexander J. Yeats
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 46

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Book Description
Perhaps the major accompl ...

Nontariff Barriers Africa Faces: What Did the Uruguay Round Accomplish, and What Remains to be Done?

Nontariff Barriers Africa Faces: What Did the Uruguay Round Accomplish, and What Remains to be Done? PDF Author: Alexander Yeats
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
March 1995 Perhaps the major accomplishment of the Uruguay Round is agreements reached on nontariff barriers (NTBs). All NTBs imposed under the Multifiber Arrangement (MFA) will be phased out over 10 years, and all voluntary export restraints will be abolished. OECD countries' NTBs on agricultural goods will be converted to tariffs and then reduced by an average of 36 percent. Agreement was also reached on limiting subsidies and other agricultural export incentives. As a result, the profile of OECD nontariff protection Africa faces will change dramatically. Formerly, about 11 percent of all Sub-Saharan Africa exports encountered NTBs; now this ratio will fall to about 2 percent. Formerly, 83 percent of Reunion's pre-Uruguay Round exports were affected by NTBs; now none will. Some African countries, however, will be largely unaffected by the Uruguay Round's accomplishments. No NTBs on energy products were liberalized so coverage ratios for Angola, Congo, ad Nigeria are still high - but the measures applied (largely quantitative restrictions and special import charges) apparently do not raise the cost of imports significantly. The exclusion of fish from the agreement on agriculture also limited the potential benefits to countries like the Seychelles. Others simply faced no (or few) nontariff restrictions before the negotiations. The new developments are regarded as positive for developing countries as a group, although some countries may incur losses. Trade in textiles and clothing has been closely regulated for three decades through MFA quotas. Phasing these restrictions out will subject African countries to aggressive international competition. Whether they can maintain a viable textile and clothing export sector depends on whether they can achieve reforms aimed at cost-cutting. The MFA liberalization is heavily backloaded, with roughly half the restrictions being removed at the end of 10 years, so there is ample time for adjustment. Africa should also face more vigorous competition on footwear and ferrous metals when voluntary restraints on some other developing countries are lifted. Any losses in market share that may occur, however, may not reflect welfare changes, especially if African exports were heavily subsidized. Agriculture could also be harmed unless appropriate domestic policies are adopted. The tariffication (and reduction) of NTBs, along with limits on export subsidies, could raise international prices on some staples, which would hurt net food importers. Reforms to ensure that prices paid to domestic producers increase in line with international prices (thus stimulating a local supply response) could limit increases in the food import bill. In the post-Uruguay Round world, it is increasingly important to remove domestic constraints that prevent local producers from taking full advantage of new export opportunities. Unfinished business includes further initiatives needed to address NTBs on fish, chemicals and energy products which the Round bypassed. Stricter regulations on safeguards and the use of antidumping duties are also needed to ensure that these measures are not substituted for those eliminated. But much of the unfinished business involves domestic reform needed to ensure that African countries can react to new export opportunities and competitive challenges.

Did External Barriers Cause the Marginalization of Sub-Saharan Africa in World Trade?

Did External Barriers Cause the Marginalization of Sub-Saharan Africa in World Trade? PDF Author: Azita Amjadi
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Urban Management Programme Paper No. 20. Reviews the specific actions that municipalities and city governments may take in contributing to urban poverty reduction. The paper highlights example of issues, options, and constraints that urban governments must address in fighting poverty. It focuses on municipalities and other city-level government entities as a critical institutional level of intervention. Other language editions available: French--Stock No. 13814 (ISBN 0-8213-3814-5); English--Stock No. 13716 (ISBN 0-8213-3716-5).

Trade Barriers Facing Developing Countries

Trade Barriers Facing Developing Countries PDF Author: Alexander J. Yeats
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349042250
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Open Economies Work Better!

Open Economies Work Better! PDF Author: Francis Ng
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Africa, Sub-Saharan
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Did Domestic Policies Marginalize Africa in International Trade?

Did Domestic Policies Marginalize Africa in International Trade? PDF Author: Alexander J. Yeats
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9780821336694
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
World Bank Technical Paper No. 344. Presents and analyzes a wealth of data on levels of and trends in health status, delivery of services, and financing in each of the former Soviet states of Central Asia. The paper examines health care reform from the perspectives of macroeconomic constraints, the demographic and epidemiological transitions facing each country, the underlying structure and financing of their health systems, and what they have inherited from the old Soviet system.

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement: Welfare Gains Estimates from a General Equilibrium Model

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement: Welfare Gains Estimates from a General Equilibrium Model PDF Author: Mr.Lisandro Abrego
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498318789
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
In March 2018, representatives of member countries of the African Union signed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. This agreement provides a framework for trade liberalization in goods and services and is expected to eventually cover all African countries. Using a multi-country, multi-sector general equilibrium model based on Costinot and Rodriguez-Clare (2014), we estimate the welfare effects of the AfCFTA for 45 countries in Africa. Three different model specifications—comprising both perfect competition and monopolistic competition—are used. Simulations include full elimination of import tariffs and partial but substantial reduction in non-tariff barriers (NTBs). Results reveal significant potential welfare gains from trade liberalization in Africa. As intra-regional import tariffs in the continent are already low, the bulk of these gains come from lowering NTBs. Overall gains for the continent are broadly similar under the three model specifications used, with considerable variation of potential welfare gains across countries in all model structures.

Trade Facilitation Capacity Needs

Trade Facilitation Capacity Needs PDF Author: Gbadebo Odularu
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030059464
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 117

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Book Description
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of both national and regional trade facilitation capacities, issues, challenges and lessons, with a special interest in sustainably advancing West Africa’s regional trade facilitation agenda. It examines the contributions of trade facilitation towards enhancing regional integration and economic expansion in the face of increasing non-tariff barriers that highly characterises West African agri-food and non-agricultural markets. The authors recommend new conceptual frameworks, appropriate initiatives, and workable policy recipes towards enhancing West Africa’s trade facilitation agenda as well as the regional economic transformation trajectory in the face of the ongoing African Continental Free Trade Agreements (AfCFTA). The book underscores the geopolitics, opportunities and challenges that confront West Africa in the increasingly dynamic regional trade facilitation policy space. Readers will learn how West Africa can improve its regional trade facilitation game amidst emerging capacity challenges.

Did External Barriers Cause the Marginalization of Sub-Saharan Africa in World Trade?

Did External Barriers Cause the Marginalization of Sub-Saharan Africa in World Trade? PDF Author: Alexander Yeats
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
March 1996 Sub-Saharan African countries' policies contributed more to that region's 30-year decline in world trade than did OECD trade barriers, but policy options available to the OECD countries could improve the environment for African exports. Highest priority should be given to policies favoring African agricultural exports whose growth could greatly alleviate the extreme rural poverty in Africa. OECD trade barriers were not a significant factor in Sub-Saharan Africa's declining position in world trade between the mid-1950s and 1990. Far more detrimental were the African countries' own policies, including those affecting transport costs. It is essential that African countries adopt reforms aimed at achieving cost competitiveness. Anti-competitive cargo reservation policies in many African countries help inflate international transport costs, which eat up a disproportionate share of African countries' foreign exchange earnings. Deregulation of international shipping and the promotion of competitive shipping services, together with improvements in transport infrastructure, could significantly reduce freight costs. But policy options available to the OECD countries could also improve the external environment for, and competitive position of, African exports. Policies involving preferences should be viewed as a step toward general trade liberalization. Highest priority should be given to policies favoring agricultural exports. Among policy options the OECD countries should consider: * Regional arrangements such as the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement discriminate against African and other developing countries. Policy initiatives are needed to at least place them on an equal basis with OECD members in these arrangements -- especially for labor-intensive products. * African exports are concentrated in primary commodities. When further processing is suitable, OECD preferences should be extended to all stages of the processing chain. * Given the extreme rural poverty in Africa, measures are needed to reduce protection against African food exports. One option would be to extend (ceiling-free) generalized system of preferences for tariffied agricultural nontariff barriers. * Ceilings and quotas should be eliminated from industrial-country preference schemes to be made consistent with unrestricted intra-OECD preferences extended under free trade agreements. * OECD countries could also provide technical, finance, development, and policy analysis assistance aimed at alleviating Africa's international transport problems, especially for landlocked African countries. This paper -- a product of the International Trade Division, International Economics Department -- is part of a larger effort in the department to identify barriers to developing countries' exports and assist in their removal.