Africa in the New Trade Environment

Africa in the New Trade Environment

Author: Souleymane Coulibaly

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2022-01-27

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 146481757X

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Africa represents a small share of global production and trade, while hosting half of the extreme poor worldwide. To catch up with the rest of the world, there is no alternative: the continent needs to link its production and trade to the global economy to take advantage of unlimited demand and innovation along the supply chain. The book presents a strategy to bolster Africa’s market access in the current global environment. It explores three key areas †“ the impact of trade agreements (unilateral, regional, and multilateral) with traditional partners (the United States and the European Union) and a way forward; the role of new market frontiers in Asia both from the perspective of restructuring economies in the region as well as changing global value chains (GVCs) and their implications for Africa; and finally an inward examination of the promise and challenges of regional trade and value chains. The book meticulously explores ways to maximize Africa’s access to the two leading world markets †“ the European Union and the United States †“ while at the same time diversifying market access to the emerging Asian market. In troubled times, it calls for the continent to anchor its market access strategy to deeper regional integration.


African Perspectives on Trade and the WTO

African Perspectives on Trade and the WTO

Author: Patrick Low

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-09-29

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781316626528

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Twenty-first century Africa is in a process of economic transformation, but challenges remain in areas such as structural reform, governance, commodity pricing and geopolitics. This book looks into key questions facing the continent, such as how Africa can achieve deeper integration into the rules-based multilateral trading system and the global economy. It provides a range of perspectives on the future of the multilateral trading system and Africa's participation in global trade and underlines the supportive roles that can be played by multilateral and regional institutions during such a rapid and uncertain transition. This volume is based on contributions to the Fourth China Round Table on WTO Accessions and the Multilateral Trading System, which took place just before the World Trade Organization's Tenth Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in December 2015.


Informal cross-border trade in Africa: How much? Why? And what impact?

Informal cross-border trade in Africa: How much? Why? And what impact?

Author: Bouet, Antoine

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2018-12-21

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13:

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Informal cross-border trade (ICBT) represents a prominent phenomenon in Africa. Several studies suggest that for certain products and countries, the value of informal trade may meet or even exceed the value of formal trade. This paper provides a review of existing efforts to measure informal trade. We list 18 initiatives aimed at measuring ICBT in Africa. The paper also summarizes discussions conducted with many stakeholders in Africa between December 2016 and May 2018 regarding the measurement, the determinants, and the implications of ICBT. The methodologies used to measure ICBT in Africa differ widely, but they do confirm that informal trade in Africa is both sizeable and volatile. Both evidence on the determinants of ICBT and discussions with stakeholders suggest that policies should aim to reduce the existing costs associated with formal trade and provide positive incentives for traders and producers to move into the formal economy in order to avoid the loss of economic potential stemming from informal trade.


The Blue Economy in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Blue Economy in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author: DONALD L. SPARKS

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-06-16

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1000400336

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The blue economy, comprising coastal and marine resources, offers vast benefits for sub-Saharan Africa: of the 53 countries and territories in the region, 32 are coastal states; there are 13 million sq km of maritime zones; more than 90% of the region’s exports and imports come by sea; and the African Union hails the blue economy as the ‘new frontier of African renaissance’. Despite their importance, the region’s coastal and marine resources have been neither fully appreciated nor fully utilized. They are only now being recognized as being key to Africa’s potential prosperity. As the region grows, it has, in general, not taken adequate safeguards to protect these valuable resources. That is partly because some of the problems (pollution, for example) are regional and know no borders. All too often, short-term gains are made at the expense of the long term (overfishing, for example). This book provides, for the first time, a study of the constraints and opportunities the blue economy offers for sub-Saharan Africa. It includes an introduction and overview; sectoral analyses (including tourism, fisheries, mineral resources, culture, shipping and maritime safety); country case studies; and analyses of regional and international efforts towards better coastal zone and marine management.


Africa and the New Globalization

Africa and the New Globalization

Author: Dr George Klay Kieh Jr

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2013-03-28

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1409498425

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Globalization is not a new phenomenon in the international system. However, the various phases of globalization have had divergent scopes, actors, dimensions and dynamics – that is, each of the phases of globalization can be differentiated according to these terms. Against this background, this book focuses on the 'new globalization', a phase that emerged when the Cold War ended and which is, significantly, the most expansive and technologically advanced of all the phases of globalization. The contributors identify and discuss many of the frontier issues in Africa that are being impacted by the dynamics of this new globalization – debt, human rights, development, state sovereignty, the environment, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The volume will hold particular interest for students, scholars and researchers of African and development politics.


Small African Economies in a More Uncertain Global Trade Environment

Small African Economies in a More Uncertain Global Trade Environment

Author: Maryla Maliszewska

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 22

ISBN-13:

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This paper provides a forward-looking view of trade and its relevance for Lesotho's medium- and long-term development. It does this through computable general equilibrium analysis of potential impacts based on specific trade-related scenarios. The scenarios include the potential loss of American Growth and Opportunities Act preferences and preference erosion against competitors through, for example, a United States-Vietnam Free Trade Area. An immediate loss of American Growth and Opportunities Act preferences would have a significant economic impact that far exceeds that of a potential future United States-Vietnam Free Trade Area. If these preferences were suspended in 2018, Lesotho would face a loss of 1 percent in income by 2020, relative to the baseline, and exports of textiles and apparel would drop by 16 percent. The computable general equilibrium simulations stress the need to strengthen efforts to support structural transformation leading to diversification of export products and markets, improving backward and forward linkages, and lowering trade costs. The simulations also indicate that trade facilitation measures leading to an average decrease in trade costs of 2 percent per year would eliminate the negative consequences of the loss of American Growth and Opportunities Act preferences in terms of the loss of income. The changing external environment is likely to offer new opportunities to Lesotho's export industries in the medium term, including through regional integration under the Continental Free Trade Area.


Africa's Development in Historical Perspective

Africa's Development in Historical Perspective

Author: Emmanuel Akyeampong

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-08-11

Total Pages: 541

ISBN-13: 1107041155

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Why has Africa remained persistently poor over its recorded history? Has Africa always been poor? What has been the nature of Africa's poverty and how do we explain its origins? This volume takes a necessary interdisciplinary approach to these questions by bringing together perspectives from archaeology, linguistics, history, anthropology, political science, and economics. Several contributors note that Africa's development was at par with many areas of Europe in the first millennium of the Common Era. Why Africa fell behind is a key theme in this volume, with insights that should inform Africa's developmental strategies.