Eight Emerging Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small-Scale Cross-Border Trade in the Great Lakes Region

Small-scale cross-border trade (SSCBT) is a defining feature of the economies of the borderlands of the Great Lakes Region (GLR). It is an important source of income and a necessary channel to access goods and services that have enabled vulnerable...

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Main Authors:	Mvunga, Nyembezi, Kunaka, Charles
Format:	Report
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2021
Subjects:	CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT CROSS-BORDER TRADE GOODS TRADE TRADE POLICY TRADE EFFECTS REGIONAL TRADE TRADE FACILITATION INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMESA
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/751981613636069177/Eight-Emerging-Effects-of-the-COVID-19-Pandemic-on-Small-Scale-Cross-Border-Trade-in-the-Great-Lakes-Region http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35159

id	okr-10986-35159
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-351592021-09-21T13:52:56Z Eight Emerging Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small-Scale Cross-Border Trade in the Great Lakes Region Mvunga, Nyembezi Kunaka, Charles CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT CROSS-BORDER TRADE GOODS TRADE TRADE POLICY TRADE EFFECTS REGIONAL TRADE TRADE FACILITATION INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMESA Small-scale cross-border trade (SSCBT) is a defining feature of the economies of the borderlands of the Great Lakes Region (GLR). It is an important source of income and a necessary channel to access goods and services that have enabled vulnerable households to increase their resilience against outside shocks and escape extreme poverty. SSCBT enhances food security and contributes to improved stability in this conflict-afflicted region. However, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has resulted in the restricted movement of people, goods, and services across borders in the GLR since March 2020, has greatly affected informal cross-border trade and traders. Its persistence has also hindered the progress that countries in this region have made toward improving the trading environment. Evidence from the World Bank’s Great Lakes Trade Facilitation Project (GLTFP), which has been undergoing implementation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Uganda, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) since 2015, highlights to a greater extent how the pandemic has erased some of the progress that countries in the region have made toward improving the livelihoods of their citizens and the trading environment. The objective of this note is to provide evidence of some of the emerging effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on SSCBT in the GLR. Because the effects of the pandemic are still evolving, this note summarizes emerging patterns that can inform discussions on policy response and the design of measures to lessen the effect of the pandemic and help protect the future of small-scale trade in the region. This note presents the emerging effects of the pandemic in the region as evidenced by the GLTFP, and is followed by recommendations on focus areas for policy makers. 2021-02-22T20:50:51Z 2021-02-22T20:50:51Z 2021-02-17 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/751981613636069177/Eight-Emerging-Effects-of-the-COVID-19-Pandemic-on-Small-Scale-Cross-Border-Trade-in-the-Great-Lakes-Region http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35159 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Policy Note Africa Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE) East Africa Southern Africa Congo, Democratic Republic of Rwanda Uganda
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT CROSS-BORDER TRADE GOODS TRADE TRADE POLICY TRADE EFFECTS REGIONAL TRADE TRADE FACILITATION INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMESA
spellingShingle	CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT CROSS-BORDER TRADE GOODS TRADE TRADE POLICY TRADE EFFECTS REGIONAL TRADE TRADE FACILITATION INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMESA Mvunga, Nyembezi Kunaka, Charles Eight Emerging Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small-Scale Cross-Border Trade in the Great Lakes Region
geographic_facet	Africa Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE) East Africa Southern Africa Congo, Democratic Republic of Rwanda Uganda
description	Small-scale cross-border trade (SSCBT) is a defining feature of the economies of the borderlands of the Great Lakes Region (GLR). It is an important source of income and a necessary channel to access goods and services that have enabled vulnerable households to increase their resilience against outside shocks and escape extreme poverty. SSCBT enhances food security and contributes to improved stability in this conflict-afflicted region. However, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has resulted in the restricted movement of people, goods, and services across borders in the GLR since March 2020, has greatly affected informal cross-border trade and traders. Its persistence has also hindered the progress that countries in this region have made toward improving the trading environment. Evidence from the World Bank’s Great Lakes Trade Facilitation Project (GLTFP), which has been undergoing implementation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Uganda, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) since 2015, highlights to a greater extent how the pandemic has erased some of the progress that countries in the region have made toward improving the livelihoods of their citizens and the trading environment. The objective of this note is to provide evidence of some of the emerging effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on SSCBT in the GLR. Because the effects of the pandemic are still evolving, this note summarizes emerging patterns that can inform discussions on policy response and the design of measures to lessen the effect of the pandemic and help protect the future of small-scale trade in the region. This note presents the emerging effects of the pandemic in the region as evidenced by the GLTFP, and is followed by recommendations on focus areas for policy makers.
format	Report
author	Mvunga, Nyembezi Kunaka, Charles
author_facet	Mvunga, Nyembezi Kunaka, Charles
author_sort	Mvunga, Nyembezi
title	Eight Emerging Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small-Scale Cross-Border Trade in the Great Lakes Region
title_short	Eight Emerging Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small-Scale Cross-Border Trade in the Great Lakes Region
title_full	Eight Emerging Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small-Scale Cross-Border Trade in the Great Lakes Region
title_fullStr	Eight Emerging Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small-Scale Cross-Border Trade in the Great Lakes Region
title_full_unstemmed	Eight Emerging Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small-Scale Cross-Border Trade in the Great Lakes Region
title_sort	eight emerging effects of the covid-19 pandemic on small-scale cross-border trade in the great lakes region
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2021
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/751981613636069177/Eight-Emerging-Effects-of-the-COVID-19-Pandemic-on-Small-Scale-Cross-Border-Trade-in-the-Great-Lakes-Region http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35159
_version_	1764482449282170880

Eight Emerging Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small-Scale Cross-Border Trade in the Great Lakes Region

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