Reducing Wait Times at Customs: How Implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) can Expand Trade among AfCFTA countries
Jaime de Melo,
Zakaria Sorgho and
Laurent Wagner
No 18651, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers
Abstract:
All WTO members participate in the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), a rules-based bottom-up approach built on monitorable provisions (e.g., the publication of information, advance rulings, appeal or review of decisions, transparency, and border agency cooperation) aimed at reducing time in customs. The paper draws on the OECD indicators of the state of implementation of provisions in the TFA summarized in a TFI (Trade Facilitation Index). To estimate the reduction in waiting time at customs for a large sample of 160 countries. Implementing the TFA could be a significant complement to the AfCFTA’s objectives. The paper’s estimates suggest that a realistic implementation of TFA measures could reduce time in customs for imports by 3.7 days and by 1.9 days for exports. Using extraneous estimates from customs-level transactions, this translates to a reduction tariff Ad-Valorem Equivalent (AVE) in the range 3.5%-7% for imports and 8% extra growth for exports. The large differences in interests across AfCFTA participants—landlocked-coastal, resource-rich vs. resource-poor, large-small—suggest large gains from reducing tariffs on intra-African trade. However, tariff reductions face the zero-sum hurdle of negotiations involving rent transfers across and within countries. By avoiding rent-transfer issues, this paper suggests that taking seriously the TFA provisions would be a powerful complement to the AfCFTA’s tariff-reduction agenda.
Keywords: International trade; Trade policy; Trade facilitation; Ldcs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F1 F13 F14 F15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-12
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP18651 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
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:cpr:ceprdp:18651
Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP18651
Access Statistics for this paper
More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().