The African Growth and Opportunity Act, Exports, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is the flagship of U.S. commercial and development policy with Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper looks at the impact of the trade preferences that are the central element of AGOA on African countries' exports to the U.S. and puts them in the perspectiv...

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Main Authors: Brenton, Paul, Hoppe, Mombert
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2006/08/7014453/african-growth-opportunity-act-exports-development-sub-saharan-africa
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9288
id okr-10986-9288
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-92882021-04-23T14:02:41Z The African Growth and Opportunity Act, Exports, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa Brenton, Paul Hoppe, Mombert AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AGRICULTURE APPAREL APPAREL ACCOUNTS APPAREL EXPORTS APPAREL INDUSTRY APPAREL PREFERENCES APPAREL PRODUCERS APPAREL PRODUCTS APPAREL SECTOR AVERAGE TARIFF AVERAGE TARIFFS COMMODITY PRICES COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE COMPETITIVE PRICE COMPETITIVENESS CUSTOMS DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE DEVELOPMENT POLICY ECONOMIC INTEGRATION ECONOMIC SIZE EXCHANGE RATES EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION EXPORT GROWTH EXPORT SECTOR EXPORTERS EXPORTS FINAL GOODS GDP GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES GNP IMPORT QUANTITIES INTERNATIONAL MARKETS INTERNATIONAL TRADE ITC LDCS LIBERALIZATION MARKET ACCESS OIL IMPORTS OIL PRICES POSITIVE EFFECTS PREFERENTIAL ACCESS PREFERENTIAL TRADE PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS PREFERENTIAL TRADE ARRANGEMENTS PRIMARY PRODUCTS QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS REGIONAL INTEGRATION RESTRICTIVE RULES OF ORIGIN RULES OF ORIGIN SAFEGUARD DUTIES SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA SUGAR SUPPLIER SUPPLIERS SUPPLY CHAIN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT TARIFF BARRIERS TARIFF CLASSIFICATION TARIFF ESCALATION TARIFF LINES TARIFF RATE TRADE BARRIERS TRADE COSTS TRADE DEFLECTION TRADE OPPORTUNITIES TRADE PREFERENCES VALUE ADDED VALUE OF EXPORTS WAGES WORLD MARKET ZERO TARIFF The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is the flagship of U.S. commercial and development policy with Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper looks at the impact of the trade preferences that are the central element of AGOA on African countries' exports to the U.S. and puts them in the perspective of the development of the region. The paper finds that, while stimulating export diversification in a few countries, AGOA has fallen short of the potential impetus that preferences could otherwise provide African exporters. The impact of AGOA would be enhanced if preferences were extended to all products. This means removing tariff barriers to a range of agricultural products and to textiles and a number of other manufactured goods. There also needs to be a fundamental change in approach to the rules of origin. Given the stage of development and economic size of Sub-Saharan Africa, nonrestrictive rules of origin are crucial. For all countries in Africa, those that have and those that have not benefited from preferences, there are enormous infrastructure weaknesses and often extremely poor policy environments that raise trade costs and push African producers further away from international markets. Effective trade preferences (those with nonrestrictive rules of origin) can provide a limited window of opportunity to exports while these key barriers to trade are addressed. But dealing with the barriers is the priority. 2012-06-26T20:33:06Z 2012-06-26T20:33:06Z 2006-08 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2006/08/7014453/african-growth-opportunity-act-exports-development-sub-saharan-africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9288 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3996 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
AGRICULTURE
APPAREL
APPAREL ACCOUNTS
APPAREL EXPORTS
APPAREL INDUSTRY
APPAREL PREFERENCES
APPAREL PRODUCERS
APPAREL PRODUCTS
APPAREL SECTOR
AVERAGE TARIFF
AVERAGE TARIFFS
COMMODITY PRICES
COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE
COMPETITIVE PRICE
COMPETITIVENESS
CUSTOMS
DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
ECONOMIC INTEGRATION
ECONOMIC SIZE
EXCHANGE RATES
EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION
EXPORT GROWTH
EXPORT SECTOR
EXPORTERS
EXPORTS
FINAL GOODS
GDP
GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES
GNP
IMPORT QUANTITIES
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
ITC
LDCS
LIBERALIZATION
MARKET ACCESS
OIL IMPORTS
OIL PRICES
POSITIVE EFFECTS
PREFERENTIAL ACCESS
PREFERENTIAL TRADE
PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
PREFERENTIAL TRADE ARRANGEMENTS
PRIMARY PRODUCTS
QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
RESTRICTIVE RULES OF ORIGIN
RULES OF ORIGIN
SAFEGUARD DUTIES
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
SUGAR
SUPPLIER
SUPPLIERS
SUPPLY CHAIN
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
TARIFF BARRIERS
TARIFF CLASSIFICATION
TARIFF ESCALATION
TARIFF LINES
TARIFF RATE
TRADE BARRIERS
TRADE COSTS
TRADE DEFLECTION
TRADE OPPORTUNITIES
TRADE PREFERENCES
VALUE ADDED
VALUE OF EXPORTS
WAGES
WORLD MARKET
ZERO TARIFF
spellingShingle AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
AGRICULTURE
APPAREL
APPAREL ACCOUNTS
APPAREL EXPORTS
APPAREL INDUSTRY
APPAREL PREFERENCES
APPAREL PRODUCERS
APPAREL PRODUCTS
APPAREL SECTOR
AVERAGE TARIFF
AVERAGE TARIFFS
COMMODITY PRICES
COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE
COMPETITIVE PRICE
COMPETITIVENESS
CUSTOMS
DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
ECONOMIC INTEGRATION
ECONOMIC SIZE
EXCHANGE RATES
EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION
EXPORT GROWTH
EXPORT SECTOR
EXPORTERS
EXPORTS
FINAL GOODS
GDP
GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES
GNP
IMPORT QUANTITIES
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
ITC
LDCS
LIBERALIZATION
MARKET ACCESS
OIL IMPORTS
OIL PRICES
POSITIVE EFFECTS
PREFERENTIAL ACCESS
PREFERENTIAL TRADE
PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
PREFERENTIAL TRADE ARRANGEMENTS
PRIMARY PRODUCTS
QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
RESTRICTIVE RULES OF ORIGIN
RULES OF ORIGIN
SAFEGUARD DUTIES
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
SUGAR
SUPPLIER
SUPPLIERS
SUPPLY CHAIN
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
TARIFF BARRIERS
TARIFF CLASSIFICATION
TARIFF ESCALATION
TARIFF LINES
TARIFF RATE
TRADE BARRIERS
TRADE COSTS
TRADE DEFLECTION
TRADE OPPORTUNITIES
TRADE PREFERENCES
VALUE ADDED
VALUE OF EXPORTS
WAGES
WORLD MARKET
ZERO TARIFF
Brenton, Paul
Hoppe, Mombert
The African Growth and Opportunity Act, Exports, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
relation Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3996
description The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is the flagship of U.S. commercial and development policy with Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper looks at the impact of the trade preferences that are the central element of AGOA on African countries' exports to the U.S. and puts them in the perspective of the development of the region. The paper finds that, while stimulating export diversification in a few countries, AGOA has fallen short of the potential impetus that preferences could otherwise provide African exporters. The impact of AGOA would be enhanced if preferences were extended to all products. This means removing tariff barriers to a range of agricultural products and to textiles and a number of other manufactured goods. There also needs to be a fundamental change in approach to the rules of origin. Given the stage of development and economic size of Sub-Saharan Africa, nonrestrictive rules of origin are crucial. For all countries in Africa, those that have and those that have not benefited from preferences, there are enormous infrastructure weaknesses and often extremely poor policy environments that raise trade costs and push African producers further away from international markets. Effective trade preferences (those with nonrestrictive rules of origin) can provide a limited window of opportunity to exports while these key barriers to trade are addressed. But dealing with the barriers is the priority.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Brenton, Paul
Hoppe, Mombert
author_facet Brenton, Paul
Hoppe, Mombert
author_sort Brenton, Paul
title The African Growth and Opportunity Act, Exports, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_short The African Growth and Opportunity Act, Exports, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_full The African Growth and Opportunity Act, Exports, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_fullStr The African Growth and Opportunity Act, Exports, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_full_unstemmed The African Growth and Opportunity Act, Exports, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_sort african growth and opportunity act, exports, and development in sub-saharan africa
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2012
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2006/08/7014453/african-growth-opportunity-act-exports-development-sub-saharan-africa
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9288
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