Small African Economies in a More Uncertain Global Trade Environment : The Potential Impact of Post-AGOA Scenarios for Lesotho

This paper provides a forward-looking view of trade and its relevance for Lesotho’s medium- and long-term development. It does this through computable general equilibrium analysis of potential impacts based on specific trade-related scenarios. The...

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Main Authors: Maliszewska, Maryla, Engel, Jakob, Arenas, Guillermo, Kotschwar, Barbara
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/516851558544501507/Small-African-Economies-in-a-More-Uncertain-Global-Trade-Environment-The-Potential-Impact-of-Post-AGOA-Scenarios-for-Lesotho
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31743
id okr-10986-31743
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-317432022-09-20T00:13:34Z Small African Economies in a More Uncertain Global Trade Environment : The Potential Impact of Post-AGOA Scenarios for Lesotho Maliszewska, Maryla Engel, Jakob Arenas, Guillermo Kotschwar, Barbara AGOA CGE MODEL TRADE PREFERENCES PREFERENTIAL TRADE TEXTILES AND APPAREL REGIONAL INTEGRATION FREE TRADE AREA This paper provides a forward-looking view of trade and its relevance for Lesotho’s medium- and long-term development. It does this through computable general equilibrium analysis of potential impacts based on specific trade-related scenarios. The scenarios include the potential loss of American Growth and Opportunities Act preferences and preference erosion against competitors through, for example, a United States–Vietnam Free Trade Area. An immediate loss of American Growth and Opportunities Act preferences would have a significant economic impact that far exceeds that of a potential future United States–Vietnam Free Trade Area. If these preferences were suspended in 2018, Lesotho would face a loss of 1 percent in income by 2020, relative to the baseline, and exports of textiles and apparel would drop by 16 percent. The computable general equilibrium simulations stress the need to strengthen efforts to support structural transformation leading to diversification of export products and markets, improving backward and forward linkages, and lowering trade costs. The simulations also indicate that trade facilitation measures leading to an average decrease in trade costs of 2 percent per year would eliminate the negative consequences of the loss of American Growth and Opportunities Act preferences in terms of the loss of income. The changing external environment is likely to offer new opportunities to Lesotho's export industries in the medium term, including through regional integration under the Continental Free Trade Area. 2019-05-30T18:57:45Z 2019-05-30T18:57:45Z 2019-05 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/516851558544501507/Small-African-Economies-in-a-More-Uncertain-Global-Trade-Environment-The-Potential-Impact-of-Post-AGOA-Scenarios-for-Lesotho http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31743 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8861 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Lesotho
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic AGOA
CGE MODEL
TRADE PREFERENCES
PREFERENTIAL TRADE
TEXTILES AND APPAREL
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
FREE TRADE AREA
spellingShingle AGOA
CGE MODEL
TRADE PREFERENCES
PREFERENTIAL TRADE
TEXTILES AND APPAREL
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
FREE TRADE AREA
Maliszewska, Maryla
Engel, Jakob
Arenas, Guillermo
Kotschwar, Barbara
Small African Economies in a More Uncertain Global Trade Environment : The Potential Impact of Post-AGOA Scenarios for Lesotho
geographic_facet Africa
Lesotho
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8861
description This paper provides a forward-looking view of trade and its relevance for Lesotho’s medium- and long-term development. It does this through computable general equilibrium analysis of potential impacts based on specific trade-related scenarios. The scenarios include the potential loss of American Growth and Opportunities Act preferences and preference erosion against competitors through, for example, a United States–Vietnam Free Trade Area. An immediate loss of American Growth and Opportunities Act preferences would have a significant economic impact that far exceeds that of a potential future United States–Vietnam Free Trade Area. If these preferences were suspended in 2018, Lesotho would face a loss of 1 percent in income by 2020, relative to the baseline, and exports of textiles and apparel would drop by 16 percent. The computable general equilibrium simulations stress the need to strengthen efforts to support structural transformation leading to diversification of export products and markets, improving backward and forward linkages, and lowering trade costs. The simulations also indicate that trade facilitation measures leading to an average decrease in trade costs of 2 percent per year would eliminate the negative consequences of the loss of American Growth and Opportunities Act preferences in terms of the loss of income. The changing external environment is likely to offer new opportunities to Lesotho's export industries in the medium term, including through regional integration under the Continental Free Trade Area.
format Working Paper
author Maliszewska, Maryla
Engel, Jakob
Arenas, Guillermo
Kotschwar, Barbara
author_facet Maliszewska, Maryla
Engel, Jakob
Arenas, Guillermo
Kotschwar, Barbara
author_sort Maliszewska, Maryla
title Small African Economies in a More Uncertain Global Trade Environment : The Potential Impact of Post-AGOA Scenarios for Lesotho
title_short Small African Economies in a More Uncertain Global Trade Environment : The Potential Impact of Post-AGOA Scenarios for Lesotho
title_full Small African Economies in a More Uncertain Global Trade Environment : The Potential Impact of Post-AGOA Scenarios for Lesotho
title_fullStr Small African Economies in a More Uncertain Global Trade Environment : The Potential Impact of Post-AGOA Scenarios for Lesotho
title_full_unstemmed Small African Economies in a More Uncertain Global Trade Environment : The Potential Impact of Post-AGOA Scenarios for Lesotho
title_sort small african economies in a more uncertain global trade environment : the potential impact of post-agoa scenarios for lesotho
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2019
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/516851558544501507/Small-African-Economies-in-a-More-Uncertain-Global-Trade-Environment-The-Potential-Impact-of-Post-AGOA-Scenarios-for-Lesotho
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31743
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