The African Continental Free Trade Area: Economic and Distributional Effects

doi:10.1016/978-1-4648-1559-1

Publication:
The African Continental Free Trade Area: Economic and Distributional Effects

dc.contributor.author	World Bank
dc.contributor.editor	Maliszewska, Maryla
dc.contributor.editor	Ruta, Michele
dc.date.accessioned	2020-07-17T15:11:16Z
dc.date.available	2020-07-17T15:11:16Z
dc.date.issued	2020-07-27
dc.description.abstract	The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement will create the largest free trade area in the world, measured by the number of countries participating. The pact will connect 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a combined GDP valued at $3.4 trillion. It has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035. But achieving its full potential will depend on putting in place significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures. The scope of the agreement is considerable. It will reduce tariffs among member countries and cover policy areas, such as trade facilitation and services, as well as regulatory measures, such as sanitary standards and technical barriers to trade. It will complement existing subregional economic communities and trade agreements by offering a continent-wide regulatory framework and by regulating policy areas—such as investment and intellectual property rights protection—that have not been covered in most subregional agreements. The African Continental Free Trade Area: Economic and Distributional Effects quantifies the long-term implications of the agreement for growth, trade, poverty reduction, and employment. Its analysis goes beyond that in previous studies that have largely focused on tariff and nontariff barriers in goods—by including the effects of services and trade facilitation measures, as well as the distributional impacts on poverty, employment, and wages of female and male workers. It is designed to guide policy makers as they develop and implement the extensive range of reforms needed to realize the substantial rewards that the agreement offers. The analysis shows that full implementation of AfCFTA could boost income by 7 percent, or nearly $450 billion, in 2014 prices and market exchange rates. The agreement would also significantly expand African trade—particularly intraregional trade in manufacturing. In addition, it would increase employment opportunities and wages for unskilled workers and help close the wage gap between men and women.	en
dc.identifier	https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/216831595998182418/the-african-continental-free-trade-area-economic-and-distributional-effects
dc.identifier.doi	10.1596/978-1-4648-1559-1
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1559-1
dc.identifier.isbn	978-1-4648-1559-1
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10986/34139
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
dc.rights	CC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holder	World Bank
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
dc.subject	REGIONAL TRADE
dc.subject	FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
dc.subject	PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
dc.subject	REGIONAL INTEGRATION
dc.title	The African Continental Free Trade Area	en
dc.title.subtitle	Economic and Distributional Effects	en
dc.type	Book	en
dc.type	Livre	fr
dc.type	Libro	es
dspace.entity.type	Publication
okr.crossref.title	The African Continental Free Trade Area: Economic and Distributional Effects
okr.date.disclosure	2020-07-27
okr.doctype	Publications & Research::Publication
okr.doctype	Publications & Research
okr.guid	216831595998182418
okr.identifier.doi	10.1016/978-1-4648-1559-1
okr.identifier.doi	10.1596/978-1-4648-1559-1
okr.identifier.internaldocumentum	211559
okr.identifier.report	151239
okr.imported	true	en
okr.language.supported	en
okr.region.administrative	Africa
okr.region.geographical	Sub-Saharan Africa
okr.topic	International Economics and Trade::Poverty and Trade
okr.topic	International Economics and Trade::Trade Liberalization
okr.topic	International Economics and Trade::Trade Policy
okr.topic	International Economics and Trade::Trade and Multilateral Issues
okr.topic	International Economics and Trade::Trade and Regional Integration
okr.topic	Poverty Reduction::Inequality
okr.unit	ETIRI