The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and its Rules of Origin : Generosity Undermined?

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), signed into American law on May 18, 2000, is a major plank of U.S. initiatives toward the African continent. The Act aims broadly at improving economic policymaking in Africa, enabling countries to emb...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mattoo, Aaditya, Roy, Devesh, Subramanian, Arvind
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2002/10/2040835/africa-growth-opportunity-act-rules-origin-generosity-undermined
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19212
id okr-10986-19212
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-192122021-04-23T14:03:42Z The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and its Rules of Origin : Generosity Undermined? Mattoo, Aaditya Roy, Devesh Subramanian, Arvind AGRICULTURAL MARKETS AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AGRICULTURE APPAREL APPAREL EXPORTS APPAREL MARKET APPAREL PRODUCTS APPAREL SECTOR APPAREL TRADE AVERAGE TARIFF AVERAGE TARIFFS BENCHMARK BENCHMARKS COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE CUSTOMS DEMAND CURVE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT DUTY FREE ECONOMIC EFFECTS ECONOMIC IMPACT ECONOMIC POLICY ELASTICITIES ELASTICITY EQUILIBRIUM EXPLOITATION EXPORT GROWTH EXPORT QUOTAS EXPORT SUPPLY EXPORT TAX EXPORT TAX EQUIVALENTS EXPORTERS EXPORTS FREE ACCESS FREE TRADE FREE TRADE AREAS GDP GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES GLOBAL TRADE GLOBAL TRADE ANALYSIS GNP HIGH TARIFFS IMPORTS INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS LABOR COSTS MARKET ACCESS OIL OIL EXPORTS PREFERENTIAL ACCESS PREFERENTIAL ARRANGEMENTS PRIMARY FACTORS PRIMARY FACTORS OF PRODUCTION QUOTAS RULES OF ORIGIN SUPPLY CURVE TARIFF BARRIERS TARIFF EQUIVALENT TARIFF PREFERENCES TARIFF RATE TRADE TRADE DIVERSION TRADE LIBERALIZATION TRADE PROMOTION TRADE PROMOTION AUTHORITY TRADE RESTRICTIONS TRANSPORT COSTS UNSKILLED LABOR URUGUAY ROUND VALUE ADDED ZERO TARIFF ECONOMIC GROWTH PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS TRADE LIBERALIZATION LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENT TEXTILE INDUSTRY CLOTHING INDUSTRY MARKET ACCESS IMPORT RESTRICTIONS RULES OF ORIGIN MULTIFIBER ARRANGEMENTS INPUTS AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS ECONOMIC GROWTH ZERO TARIFF The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), signed into American law on May 18, 2000, is a major plank of U.S. initiatives toward the African continent. The Act aims broadly at improving economic policymaking in Africa, enabling countries to embrace globalization, and securing durable political and economic stability. As an incentive for Africa to adopt the necessary policy reform, AGOA offers increased preferential access for African exports to the United States. This paper describes the provisions of AGOA and assesses its quantitative impact on African exports, particularly in the apparel sector. Its main conclusions are: 1) AGOA will provide real opportunities to Africa. Even on conservative estimates about Africa's supply response, Africa's non-oil exports could be increased by about 8-11 percent. 2) However, the medium-term gains could have been much greater if AGOA had not imposed certain conditions and not excluded certain items from its coverage. The most important condition is the stringent rule-of-origin, that is, the requirement that exporters source certain inputs from within Africa or the United States. Estimates suggest that the absence of these conditions would have magnified the impact nearly five-fold, resulting in an overall increase in non-oil exports of US$0.54 billion compared with the US$100-US$140 million increase that is expected in the presence of these restrictions. These restrictions, particularly on apparel, will come at a particularly inopportune time, as Africa will be exposed to competition from other developing countries when the quotas maintained on the latters' exports under the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) are eliminated. Africa's apparel exports will be lower by over 30 percent with the dismantling of the MFA. If, on the other hand, AGOA had provided unrestricted access, the negative impact of the dismantling could be nearly fully offset. 2014-08-01T19:02:57Z 2014-08-01T19:02:57Z 2002-10 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2002/10/2040835/africa-growth-opportunity-act-rules-origin-generosity-undermined http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19212 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2908 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research Africa Africa
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic AGRICULTURAL MARKETS
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
AGRICULTURE
APPAREL
APPAREL EXPORTS
APPAREL MARKET
APPAREL PRODUCTS
APPAREL SECTOR
APPAREL TRADE
AVERAGE TARIFF
AVERAGE TARIFFS
BENCHMARK
BENCHMARKS
COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE
CUSTOMS
DEMAND CURVE
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DEVELOPMENT
DUTY FREE
ECONOMIC EFFECTS
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ECONOMIC POLICY
ELASTICITIES
ELASTICITY
EQUILIBRIUM
EXPLOITATION
EXPORT GROWTH
EXPORT QUOTAS
EXPORT SUPPLY
EXPORT TAX
EXPORT TAX EQUIVALENTS
EXPORTERS
EXPORTS
FREE ACCESS
FREE TRADE
FREE TRADE AREAS
GDP
GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES
GLOBAL TRADE
GLOBAL TRADE ANALYSIS
GNP
HIGH TARIFFS
IMPORTS
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS
LABOR COSTS
MARKET ACCESS
OIL
OIL EXPORTS
PREFERENTIAL ACCESS
PREFERENTIAL ARRANGEMENTS
PRIMARY FACTORS
PRIMARY FACTORS OF PRODUCTION
QUOTAS
RULES OF ORIGIN
SUPPLY CURVE
TARIFF BARRIERS
TARIFF EQUIVALENT
TARIFF PREFERENCES
TARIFF RATE
TRADE
TRADE DIVERSION
TRADE LIBERALIZATION
TRADE PROMOTION
TRADE PROMOTION AUTHORITY
TRADE RESTRICTIONS
TRANSPORT COSTS
UNSKILLED LABOR
URUGUAY ROUND
VALUE ADDED
ZERO TARIFF ECONOMIC GROWTH
PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
TRADE LIBERALIZATION
LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENT
TEXTILE INDUSTRY
CLOTHING INDUSTRY
MARKET ACCESS
IMPORT RESTRICTIONS
RULES OF ORIGIN
MULTIFIBER ARRANGEMENTS
INPUTS
AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ZERO TARIFF
spellingShingle AGRICULTURAL MARKETS
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
AGRICULTURE
APPAREL
APPAREL EXPORTS
APPAREL MARKET
APPAREL PRODUCTS
APPAREL SECTOR
APPAREL TRADE
AVERAGE TARIFF
AVERAGE TARIFFS
BENCHMARK
BENCHMARKS
COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE
CUSTOMS
DEMAND CURVE
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DEVELOPMENT
DUTY FREE
ECONOMIC EFFECTS
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ECONOMIC POLICY
ELASTICITIES
ELASTICITY
EQUILIBRIUM
EXPLOITATION
EXPORT GROWTH
EXPORT QUOTAS
EXPORT SUPPLY
EXPORT TAX
EXPORT TAX EQUIVALENTS
EXPORTERS
EXPORTS
FREE ACCESS
FREE TRADE
FREE TRADE AREAS
GDP
GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES
GLOBAL TRADE
GLOBAL TRADE ANALYSIS
GNP
HIGH TARIFFS
IMPORTS
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS
LABOR COSTS
MARKET ACCESS
OIL
OIL EXPORTS
PREFERENTIAL ACCESS
PREFERENTIAL ARRANGEMENTS
PRIMARY FACTORS
PRIMARY FACTORS OF PRODUCTION
QUOTAS
RULES OF ORIGIN
SUPPLY CURVE
TARIFF BARRIERS
TARIFF EQUIVALENT
TARIFF PREFERENCES
TARIFF RATE
TRADE
TRADE DIVERSION
TRADE LIBERALIZATION
TRADE PROMOTION
TRADE PROMOTION AUTHORITY
TRADE RESTRICTIONS
TRANSPORT COSTS
UNSKILLED LABOR
URUGUAY ROUND
VALUE ADDED
ZERO TARIFF ECONOMIC GROWTH
PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
TRADE LIBERALIZATION
LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENT
TEXTILE INDUSTRY
CLOTHING INDUSTRY
MARKET ACCESS
IMPORT RESTRICTIONS
RULES OF ORIGIN
MULTIFIBER ARRANGEMENTS
INPUTS
AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ZERO TARIFF
Mattoo, Aaditya
Roy, Devesh
Subramanian, Arvind
The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and its Rules of Origin : Generosity Undermined?
geographic_facet Africa
Africa
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2908
description The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), signed into American law on May 18, 2000, is a major plank of U.S. initiatives toward the African continent. The Act aims broadly at improving economic policymaking in Africa, enabling countries to embrace globalization, and securing durable political and economic stability. As an incentive for Africa to adopt the necessary policy reform, AGOA offers increased preferential access for African exports to the United States. This paper describes the provisions of AGOA and assesses its quantitative impact on African exports, particularly in the apparel sector. Its main conclusions are: 1) AGOA will provide real opportunities to Africa. Even on conservative estimates about Africa's supply response, Africa's non-oil exports could be increased by about 8-11 percent. 2) However, the medium-term gains could have been much greater if AGOA had not imposed certain conditions and not excluded certain items from its coverage. The most important condition is the stringent rule-of-origin, that is, the requirement that exporters source certain inputs from within Africa or the United States. Estimates suggest that the absence of these conditions would have magnified the impact nearly five-fold, resulting in an overall increase in non-oil exports of US$0.54 billion compared with the US$100-US$140 million increase that is expected in the presence of these restrictions. These restrictions, particularly on apparel, will come at a particularly inopportune time, as Africa will be exposed to competition from other developing countries when the quotas maintained on the latters' exports under the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) are eliminated. Africa's apparel exports will be lower by over 30 percent with the dismantling of the MFA. If, on the other hand, AGOA had provided unrestricted access, the negative impact of the dismantling could be nearly fully offset.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Mattoo, Aaditya
Roy, Devesh
Subramanian, Arvind
author_facet Mattoo, Aaditya
Roy, Devesh
Subramanian, Arvind
author_sort Mattoo, Aaditya
title The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and its Rules of Origin : Generosity Undermined?
title_short The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and its Rules of Origin : Generosity Undermined?
title_full The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and its Rules of Origin : Generosity Undermined?
title_fullStr The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and its Rules of Origin : Generosity Undermined?
title_full_unstemmed The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and its Rules of Origin : Generosity Undermined?
title_sort africa growth and opportunity act and its rules of origin : generosity undermined?
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2014
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2002/10/2040835/africa-growth-opportunity-act-rules-origin-generosity-undermined
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19212
_version_ 1764439368536162304