Informality, Trade Policies and Smuggling in West Africa

Informality, Trade Policies and Smuggling in West Africa

In West Africa, recorded intra-regional trade is small but informal cross-border trade (ICBT) is pervasive, despite regional integration schemes intended to promote official trade. We argue that ICBT must be understood in light of two features of West African national boundaries: divergent economic...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Benjamin, Nancy, Golub, Stephen, Mbaye, Ahmadou Aly
Format: Journal Article
Language:en_US
Published: Taylor and Francis 2015
Subjects:
regional integration
informality
regional trade
import barriers
trade policy
taxation
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23523
id okr-10986-23523
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-235232021-04-23T14:04:15Z Informality, Trade Policies and Smuggling in West Africa Benjamin, Nancy Golub, Stephen Mbaye, Ahmadou Aly regional integration informality regional trade import barriers trade policy taxation In West Africa, recorded intra-regional trade is small but informal cross-border trade (ICBT) is pervasive, despite regional integration schemes intended to promote official trade. We argue that ICBT must be understood in light of two features of West African national boundaries: divergent economic policies between neighboring countries and the ease with which informal operators can ship goods across borders. We focus on two ICBT clusters: Senegal–The Gambia and Nigeria–Benin–Togo. Nigeria and Senegal have protected their domestic industries with high import barriers, whereas Benin, Togo and The Gambia have maintained lower import taxation. These differential trade policies, together with high mobility of goods and people across borders, lead to widespread smuggling, with goods imported legally in low-tax countries and re-exported unofficially to countries with higher import duties. 2015-12-28T17:50:47Z 2015-12-28T17:50:47Z 2015-10-05 Journal Article Journal of Borderlands Studies 0886-5655 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23523 en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Taylor and Francis Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research West Africa Benin Gambia, The Nigeria Senegal Togo
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language en_US
topic regional integration
informality
regional trade
import barriers
trade policy
taxation
spellingShingle regional integration
informality
regional trade
import barriers
trade policy
taxation
Benjamin, Nancy
Golub, Stephen
Mbaye, Ahmadou Aly
Informality, Trade Policies and Smuggling in West Africa
geographic_facet West Africa
Benin
Gambia, The
Nigeria
Senegal
Togo
description In West Africa, recorded intra-regional trade is small but informal cross-border trade (ICBT) is pervasive, despite regional integration schemes intended to promote official trade. We argue that ICBT must be understood in light of two features of West African national boundaries: divergent economic policies between neighboring countries and the ease with which informal operators can ship goods across borders. We focus on two ICBT clusters: Senegal–The Gambia and Nigeria–Benin–Togo. Nigeria and Senegal have protected their domestic industries with high import barriers, whereas Benin, Togo and The Gambia have maintained lower import taxation. These differential trade policies, together with high mobility of goods and people across borders, lead to widespread smuggling, with goods imported legally in low-tax countries and re-exported unofficially to countries with higher import duties.
format Journal Article
author Benjamin, Nancy
Golub, Stephen
Mbaye, Ahmadou Aly
author_facet Benjamin, Nancy
Golub, Stephen
Mbaye, Ahmadou Aly
author_sort Benjamin, Nancy
title Informality, Trade Policies and Smuggling in West Africa
title_short Informality, Trade Policies and Smuggling in West Africa
title_full Informality, Trade Policies and Smuggling in West Africa
title_fullStr Informality, Trade Policies and Smuggling in West Africa
title_full_unstemmed Informality, Trade Policies and Smuggling in West Africa
title_sort informality, trade policies and smuggling in west africa
publisher Taylor and Francis
publishDate 2015
url http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23523
_version_ 1764454085378965504

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