Diversifying Trade Flows, Facilitation, and Infrastructure Quality in the CASA Region: An Empirical Exploration

Nassir Wani

Chapter Chapter 10 in Trade and Development in Central and South Asia, 2025, pp 239-265 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The trading scenarios in economies are interlinked with key dimensions like infrastructure quality, trade facilitation, and transport routes, and thus are crucial for economic growth. This chapter analyses the changing trade flows, trade facilitation, infrastructure, and transportation routes in CASA as a reaction to external shocks. This study investigates the impact of infrastructure and trade facilitation on inter-CASA trade, employing datasets from the Corridor Performance Measurement and Monitoring (CPMM) indicators. The study identified trends, volumes, trade routes, and potential prospects for diversification and reorientation in CASA trade from 2010 to 2021. The research highlights the economic viability of the Middle Corridor, which is increasingly considered a crucial transportation and transit option for the CASA region. In addition to how well their infrastructure is developed, the results indicate that the costs of crossing borders and how quickly people can travel along the CAREC corridors are critical for Central Asia’s trade with three South Asian countries. An increase in the average velocity of cargo transit (domestic or international) along a CAREC corridor significantly benefited both exports and imports. This study demonstrates that for trade flows to improve in the long term, CAREC members must collaborate to develop and utilise hard infrastructure. This should be paired with soft infrastructure projects, like trade facilitation measures that aim to make the region more integrated. The paper advocates for the enhancement of both physical and soft infrastructure in CASA member nations to facilitate trade and improve regional integration. This dual approach is essential for fostering long-term regional cooperation and economic resilience.

Keywords: CASA; Infrastructure Quality; CPMM; CAREC; F10; F13; N75; O18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-981-95-2728-1_10

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9789819527281

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-95-2728-1_10

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().