Guinea-Bissau - Cashew and Beyond : Diversification Through Trade - Diagnostic Trade Integration Study for the Enhanced Integrated Framework for Trade-related Technical Assistance
Guinea-Bissau is highly dependent on international trade even when compared to other nations of its size and income level. However, it is equally clear that the country could derive far more benefit from its international trade opportunities than i...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Integrated Fiduciary Assessment |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank
2012
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000333038_20110210232543 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2970 |
| Summary: | Guinea-Bissau is highly dependent on
international trade even when compared to other nations of
its size and income level. However, it is equally clear that
the country could derive far more benefit from its
international trade opportunities than it does at the
present time. This study examines how to do this, looking
not only at trade policy, the investment climate, and
infrastructure, but also five key sectors where specific
opportunities exist. There are three recommendations which
stand out as having a particularly important and pervasive
effect on trade and its potential role in raising incomes
and reducing poverty. Indeed, they can be regarded as
preconditions for significant progress. Eliminating the
bureaucratic obstacles to doing business is a prerequisite
for any growth in private investment in the country.
Guinea-Bissau ranks near the bottom of the World Bank's
annual Survey of Doing Business, reflecting the extremely
difficult bureaucratic and legal maze that must be dealt
with by any entrepreneur seeking to operate a business in
the country. This situation not only militates against
private investment in any but resource extraction
industries, but also makes even the simplest import/export
operation an exercise in bureaucratic navigation. It is of
primary importance that the job of formulating and
implementing economic policy be put on a more stable and
long term basis The extreme instability in
Guinea-Bissau's government has meant that cabinet
ministers and lower officials change on an annual or even
more frequent basis. This situation makes long term planning
and sustained implementation virtually impossible and the
formulation of coherent policy equally difficult. |
|---|