Albania : Trade Impact of CEFTA
Regional free trade agreements (FTAs) have a sizable effect on exports and foster economic growth. While reducing tariffs in member countries, regional FTAs harmonize trade policy across regions and reduce regulation uncertainty for exporters. They...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/865891548426513058/Albania-Trade-Impact-of-CEFTA http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31192 |
| Summary: | Regional free trade agreements (FTAs)
have a sizable effect on exports and foster economic growth.
While reducing tariffs in member countries, regional FTAs
harmonize trade policy across regions and reduce regulation
uncertainty for exporters. They are particularly important
for supporting trade in isolated countries such as Albania,
a transition economy in the Western Balkans. This policy
note looks at the impact of membership in the Central
European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) on Albania's
export growth. It finds that Albanian exports to CEFTA
members have grown much faster than its exports to other
countries. A large share of this growth is contributed by
firms that did not export to CEFTA countries previously and
via new exports that were among the least traded to CEFTA
countries. We also measure the impact of CEFTA on Albanian
exports using a gravity equation, which finds that CEFTA
increased Albanian exports to member countries between 34
percent and 144 percent. |
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