Economic Integration in the Maghreb
This report reviews the status of Maghreb countries' economic integration with the world, with the Arab world, and within the Maghreb itself. It focuses on trade in goods and services, labor and capital flows, financial integration and cross-b...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2017
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/969341468278074872/Economic-integration-in-the-Maghreb http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27833 |
| Summary: | This report reviews the status of
Maghreb countries' economic integration with the world,
with the Arab world, and within the Maghreb itself. It
focuses on trade in goods and services, labor and capital
flows, financial integration and cross-border infrastructure
integration. It discusses the potential benefits of and key
constraints to greater integration. The focus on trade
liberalization with the European Union (EU) provides an
opportunity for individual Maghreb countries to lock in
policies that would eventually help them harmonize policies
within their own region. The same argument can be made
regarding accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The Maghreb countries would reap significant additional
benefits if, in parallel to reforms undertaken to improve
trade liberalization with Europe, they improved conditions
for streamlined trade among themselves. There is significant
potential for trade in services in the financial sector,
transportation and logistics, and communications and
information, among other sectors. According to some studies,
comprehensive services reforms that involve increased
competition and regulatory streamlining would yield benefits
that are at least twice the magnitude of those achieved
through tariff removal alone. |
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