Deeper Integration or Open Regionalism in the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA): A CGE Approach

Abdallah Akintola (), Houcine Boughanmi (), Alessandro Antimiani (), Lokman Zaibet () and Hemesiri Kotagama ()
Additional contact information
Abdallah Akintola: Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman, Postal: PO Box:34 Al Khod 123, Sultanate of Oman
Houcine Boughanmi: Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman, Postal: PO Box:34 Al Khod 123, Sultanate of Oman
Alessandro Antimiani: European Commission, Belgium, Postal: Office CHAR 5/38, Rue de la Loi, 170 B-1049, European Commission, Belgium
Lokman Zaibet: Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman, Postal: PO Box:34 Al Khod 123, Sultanate of Oman
Hemesiri Kotagama: Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman, Postal: PO Box:34 Al Khod 123, Sultanate of Oman

Journal of Economic Integration, 2022, vol. 37, issue 4, 705-733

Abstract: The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is a regional association based on the principle of open regionalism to promote liberalization through trade and investment facilitation. This study compares two main scenarios with the ingredients of a deeper regional integration compared to the IORA's present open regionalism status. Scenario I evaluates the effects of gradual tariff cuts on IORA, while Scenario II combines the impact of tariff cuts, non-tariff measures (NTM) reduction, and trade facilitation. A recent recursive dynamic model, called Global Trade Analysis Project recursive dynamic model (GTAP-RD), was used to understand the adjustment path. The result shows welfare gain for a ll IORA countries when a t rade liberalization involving tariff cuts is complemented with NTM reduction and trade facilitation. In addition, the "NTM spillover" effect on some non-IORA members (the rest of Gulf Cooperation Council, the rest of Greater Arab Free Trade Agreement, and the United Kingdom) was observed. The results suggest that IORA has more to gain if it involves a deeper regional integration than the present form of open regionalism.

Keywords: integration; Indian Ocean Rim Association; non-tariff measures; trade facilitation; dynamic model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F14 F15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.e-jei.org Full text (application/pdf)

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:ris:integr:0863

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Integration is currently edited by Seongeun Kim

More articles in Journal of Economic Integration from Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Yunhoe Kim ().