Trade in Intermediate Inputs and Trade Facilitation in Africa's Regional Integration

Abstract

Despite concerted efforts, Africa's regional integration process has encountered delays. Since the third stage of the Abuja Treaty in 2008, piecemeal progress has been observed. It therefore begs a difficult but relevant question: why is the regional integration process stalling? The conventional answer lies in challenges such as inadequate financial resources and infrastructure for trade among others. However, an approach is proposed to refocus regional integration on resource-based industrialization. The level of industrialization is examined in Africa using Balassa's Revealed Comparative Advantage Indexes based on the BACI dataset. Further, an input-output table analysis on production of Kenya's trade in intermediate inputs is done based on the GTAP 8 dataset. The analysis finds that while the level of industrialization is heterogeneous among African economies, the overall level is low. Also, in the case of Kenya and five regions in Africa, imported intermediate was found to be a critical input to production, lending support to the importance of trade facilitation measures in ensuring timely and cost-effective sourcing of inputs.

The Comparative Economics of Catch-Up in Output Per Worker, Total Factor Productivity and Technological Gain in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…This contribution builds on the need for more economic integration and policy harmonization discussed in Africa (Akpan, 2014;KayizziMugerwa et al, 2014;Njifen, 2014). Others: Charaf-Eddine and Strauss (2014); Baricako and Ndongo (2014); Nshimbi and Fioramonti (2014); Ebaidalla and Yahia (2014); Ofa and Karingi (2014); Shuaibu (2015) and Tumwebaze and Ijjo (2015).Thisinquiry is based on two theories: (i) countries with lower levels of the underlying factors (per worker output, TFP and technological gain) are more likely to catch-up their counterparts of higher levels. (ii) According to Martin and Sunley (1998) and Temple (1999)if technology is a public good and can cross national borders, over time Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries should be able to adapt and adopt modern technology, and in the long-run the rate of technological progress would be similar among SSA.…”

The Comparative Economics of Catch‐up in Output per Worker, Total Factor Productivity and Technological Gain in Sub‐Saharan Africa

“…This contribution builds on the need for more economic integration and policy harmonization discussed in Africa (Akpan, ; Kayizzi‐Mugerwa et al ., ; Njifen, ). Others include: Charaf‐Eddine and Strauss (); Baricako and Ndongo (); Nshimbi and Fioramonti (); Ebaidalla and Yahia (); Ofa and Karingi (); Shuaibu () and Tumwebaze and Ijjo (). This inquiry is based on two theories: (1) countries with lower levels of the underlying factors (per worker output, TFP and technological gain) are more likely to catch up their counterparts of higher levels.…”

The comparative African regional economics of globalization in financial allocation efficiency: the pre-crisis era revisited

“…According to Kose et al (2006), many developing countries rapidly embraced integration polices because the anticipated rewards were higher compared to those for developed nations. Unfortunately, the surge in financial flows was 2 Other recent studies within this literature stream include Baricako and Ndongo (2014), Ebaidalla and Yahia (2014), Charaf-Eddine and Strauss (2014), Nshimbi and Fioramonti (2014), Ofa and Karingi (2014), Shuaibu (2015), and Tumwebaze and Ijjo (2015). 3 The benefits of globalization for developing countries are still subject to a heated debate.…”