Assessing the Economic Impact of the ECOWAS CET and Economic Partnership Agreement on Ghana
Ghana is currently facing two major trade policy adjustments - the economic community of West African states (ECOWAS) common external tariff (CET) is a significant milestone within the long history of regional integration in West Africa. In additio...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/11/25465332/assessing-economic-impact-ecowas-cet-economic-partnership-agreement-ghana http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23242 |
| Summary: | Ghana is currently facing two major
trade policy adjustments - the economic community of West
African states (ECOWAS) common external tariff (CET) is a
significant milestone within the long history of regional
integration in West Africa. In addition to the CET, Ghana
faces the economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the
European Union, which has been designed to build on the CET
in West Africa. This study aims to enhance the debate by
presenting an intuitive and data-driven technical
perspective on the likely effects of the CET and the EPA.
The study seeks to improve the information available to
policy makers in Ghana. This is highly relevant, as the CET
currently awaits parliamentary approval and the EPA will
soon also require ratification. The study also aims to
expand the information with which policy makers can develop
accompanying policies to support and derive maximum benefit
from the CET and EPA trade reforms. The first stage of the
study employs the trade reform impact simulation tool
(TRIST), which was developed by the World Bank. The study
uses the finalized CET and EPA tariff schedules at the most
detailed (10-digit) tariff line level, and 2013 customs
excise and preventive service (CEPS) data on imports,
exemption rates, tariff revenue, value-added tax (VAT), and
national health insurance levy (NHIL) revenue, excise duty,
and the over-age penalty for vehicles. The report presents
the results for six scenarios: (1) the effect of the CET
only, which is to be implemented before the end of 2015; the
effect of each stage of the EPA implemented on top of the
CET, (2) CET + EPA2020, (3) CET + EPA2025, (4) CET +
EPA2030, (5) CET + EPA2035, and (6) the net effect of the
EPA, where the EPA is implemented from a baseline where the
CET is already in place (EPA2035 from CET). The study is
structured as follows: section one gives introduction.
Section two summarizes the market access content of the CET
and EPA. Section three analyzes the effects of each reform
on revenues and imports, section four looks at the effects
on consumers, and section five examines the effects on
firms’ competitiveness and jobs. Section six looks at
potential accompanying measures and section seven concludes. |
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