The potential of African trade integration – Panel data evidence for the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite

Riedel, Jana; Slany, Anja

doi:10.1080/09638199.2019.1575457

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Allowing for free trade between the three regional blocks that make up the Tripartite FTA (column 2) does not change the neutral effect of FTAs on intra-African trade (column 1). In line with their relatively low intra-regional trade shares, these results are consistent with previous findings that find negligible trade effects for COMESA and the SADC, notwithstanding a positive effect for the EAC reflecting greater liberalisation at a more advanced stage of the integration process (Riedel & Slany, 2019). While the TFTA includes some of Africa's larger countries (for example, Angola, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa), its potential positive effects are likely hindered by the exclusion of the Western African countries, most notably Nigeria.…”

Section: Trade Effects Of Afcfta and Tftasupporting

confidence: 92%

African economic integration and trade

Stack,

Amissah,

Bliss

2023

World Economy

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Economic integration ranks as one of the leading development strategies in Africa. The newly created African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) linking three major regional blocks offer a new impetus to studying trade policy effects. Using a structural gravity model of bilateral manufacturing trade between the African Union member states and all countries in the world, the trade effects of African economic integration agreements (EIAs) are assessed. The findings suggest that economic integration, in aggregate, enhances total African exports. Disaggregating the effects by type of agreement and by subgroups of countries, free trade agreements (FTAs) and partial scope agreements (PSAs) are found to increase extra‐African exports, but have no effects on intra‐African exports. A positive and significant effect on intra‐African exports is introduced when the FTA dummy is combined with AfCFTA in contrast to a neutral effect stemming from the joint FTA‐TFTA dummy. The findings suggest that a continent‐wide FTA yields greater benefits when compared with integrating the subregions.

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Section: Trade Effects Of Afcfta and Tftasupporting

confidence: 92%

African economic integration and trade

Stack,

Amissah,

Bliss

2023

World Economy

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“…For the specific case of the AfCFTA, there is empirical evidence that the agreement positively affects trade flows (Abrego et al, 2019; Bakouan et al, 2022; Ejones et al, 2021; Geda & Yimer, 2022; Gondwe, 2021; Oyelami, 2021; Riedel & Slany, 2019; Wonyra & Bayale, 2022) investment (Abrego et al, 2020; Mold & Mukwaya, 2016) consumer welfare (Fofack et al, 2021; Fouda Ekobena et al, 2021; Fusacchia et al, 2022). However, the literature on the COMESA free trade agreement, however, points to a welfare loss for Ethiopia as a result of the agreement (Amogne & Hagiwara, 2021).…”

Section: Literature Review: Free Trade and Economic Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Can Tariff Elimination and Trade Facilitation Affect East African Economies?

Bakouan¹,

Diarra

Ouédraogo

2023

Foreign Trade Review

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The article assesses the potential economic implications of tariff elimination and trade facilitation (TF) in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement for East Africa. Using the most recent GTAP database and computable general equilibrium model, the article provides additional evidence on the socio-economic benefits of the ongoing trade integration process. The results show that the elimination of tariffs would improve economic dynamism in most sectors of activity and household consumption. However, the elimination of tariffs alone would not be sufficient to achieve a significant level of trade integration. From a policy perspective, although a gradual implementation of tariff elimination is more beneficial for the zone, the results highlight the relevance of combining tariff elimination with complementary TF reforms. These reforms amplify the socio-economic gain from the AfCFTA. JEL Codes: F13, F14, F15, E23, C68

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“…This circumstance is coupled with the fact that intra-African trade is fairly different to the continent's exports to third countries. While African countries supply world markets primarily with commodities and raw materials, intra-African trade is characterised by a comparatively large share of industrial goods (see, for example, Abrego et al 2019;Slany & Riedel, 2019; UNECA [United Nations Economic Commission for Africa], 2015). The larger value-added in industrial trade means that there is more at stake, potentially bringing in a more competitive behavior.…”

Section: A Descriptive View and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Murky trade waters: Regional tariff commitments and non-tariff measures in Africa

Stender

Vogel

2022

The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development

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In several African regions, economic integration has successfully reduced tariff protection by freezing the opportunity to raise applied tariffs against fellow integration partners above those promised. In this paper, we examine whether the regional tariff commitments on the continent have come at the expense of adverse side-effects on the prevalence of other -nontariff -trade barriers. More specifically, regional tariff commitments have not only amplified applied tariff overhangs -the difference between Most Favoured Nation (MFN) bound tariffs and effectively applied tariffs -for African members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), but have also sharply reduced their tariff policy space within Africa, thus leaving regulatory policies such as sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and technical barriers to trade (TBT) as two of the few legitimate options to level the playing field with market competitors. Comparing the effects of applied tariff overhangs towards all vis-à-vis African trading partners on SPS and TBT notifications of 35 African WTO members between 2001 and 2017, we find no overall relationship between tariff overhangs and import regulation in our preferred model setting. By contrast, larger tariff overhangs specific to intra-African trade relations have a significant share in increasing the probability of SPS measures and TBT. Our findings have important implications for future Pan-African integration under the recently launched African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in that success in fostering continental economic integration does not exclusively depend on the realisation of tariff liberalisation, but at the same time on a mindful coordination with non-tariff provisions.

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The potential of African trade integration – Panel data evidence for the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite

Cited by 12 publications

References 32 publications

African economic integration and trade

African economic integration and trade

How Can Tariff Elimination and Trade Facilitation Affect East African Economies?

Murky trade waters: Regional tariff commitments and non-tariff measures in Africa

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