Niger : Leveraging Export Diversification to Foster Growth
Niger’s Vision 2035 acknowledges the country has little choice but to create ‘a competitive anddiversified economy.’ Economic diversification is a cornerstone component of the Economic Orientation Document (EOD) 2016-19 and the PDES 2017-21. The EO...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/284331576782136230/Niger-Leveraging-Export-Diversification-to-Foster-Growth http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33069 |
| Summary: | Niger’s Vision 2035 acknowledges the
country has little choice but to create ‘a competitive
anddiversified economy.’ Economic diversification is a
cornerstone component of the Economic Orientation Document
(EOD) 2016-19 and the PDES 2017-21. The EOD defines Niger’s
economic diversification as moving exports away from natural
resources and increasing the value-added component of
exports as the foundation for its agro-based
industrialization and employment creation policies. Hence,
an exports diversification strategy is akin to the country’s
economic diversification and, not surprisingly, the PDES
contains several axes of policy interventions supporting it.
However, Niger faces serious structural challenges to
diversify into new productive activities. The country is
landlocked, exporting costs are high and, given multiple
infrastructure and logistics gaps, access to markets is
difficult beyond neighboring regional markets. Rapid
population growth and low human capital turns into a low
skilled population. Volatile economic growth, reliant on a
few commodity exports that closely follow the vagaries of
weather and boom and busts of international prices, makes
hardly obtained poverty gains vulnerable. |
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