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This study offers an empirical appraisal of the contribution of trade facilitation for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries participation in global value chains. We used new value-added data on a panel of 25 countries over the period 2004-2017. The results using pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and instrumental variable-two-stage least squares (IV-2SLS) estimators reveal that trade facilitation indicators such as physical infrastructure, information and communication technology, and border and transport efficiency support SSA countries' participation in global value chains. More interestingly, these results are robust at the sectoral level, particularly in agriculture, manufacturing, and textiles & clothing sectors for physical infrastructure and ICT, while the business environment is conducive to upstream integration of GVCs in the agriculture and textiles & clothing sectors. These results underscore the increased importance of trade facilitation in the era of global value chains and call for well-targeted sectoral policies to reap the benefits of GVCs.

This study analyzes the effect of trade facilitation on export diversification in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We constructed four aggregate indicators with principal component analysis and estimated panel data on 29 SSA countries over the period 2004–2017. The empirical results with the generalized method of moments show that trade facilitation indicators related to hard infrastructures such as physical infrastructure and information and communication technology contribute positively and significantly to export diversification in sub-Saharan Africa. It appears also that the border and transport efficiency indicator of trade facilitation related to soft infrastructure has a positive and significant effect on export diversification in SSA. These results are robust when using the number of products exported as an alternative measure of export diversification. Moreover, we show that the complementarity between hard and soft infrastructure increase export diversification. Based on these results, Sub-Saharan African countries should focus on developing and strengthening hard and soft infrastructure to boost export diversification.