Trade liberalization in sub-Saharan Africa: stagnation or growth?

✍ Scribed by Hiranya Mukhopadhyay

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 113 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0954-1748
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1328(199909/10)11:6<825::aid-jid626>3.0.co;2-l

✦ Synopsis

This paper argues that greater the liberalization of imports in a sub-Saharan African country, the more signi®cant is the decline in its rate of growth due to excessive competitive imports. Furthermore, this result was strengthened during recession in high income economies during the late eighties and early nineties. This could be explained by the fact that when industrial countries are suering from recession, the terms of trade may move in favour of developing countries as a result of a fall in the dollar price of importables. Moreover, it is shown in the paper that the decline in the dollar price of importables is positively related to the degree of import liberalization, and this association improves during recession in high income economies. The volume of competitive imports may not rise in this circumstance in a country that has a well designed `interventionist' trade regime.