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L A W R E N C E E D WA R D S
FIGURE 5. Change in Import-Weighted Most Favored Nation (MFN) Tariff, Selected African Countries, 1990–95 to 2004–6 10 5
percent
0 all economies (–3.9%) –5 –10 –15
M
or oc c L o Cô Ma ibya u te rit d’ ius Iv o N ire ig Bu K eria r e M kina ny oz F a am as bi o Et que hi o Rw pi an a Ug da an So Za da ut mb h Zi Af ia m ric ba a Ta bw nz e a Tu nia ni s Eg Ch ia yp t, Al ad Ar ge Eq ab ria ua R to M ep ria a . l G law ui i n G ea ab o Co Ca M n ng me al o, ro i Ce Re on nt p ra l A M G . of fri ad ha ca ag na n as Re c a Se pu r yc bli he c lle s
–20
Source: UNCTAD Trade Analysis and Information System (TRAINS) database. Note: UNCTAD, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
MFN protection, at 13.1 percent for African economies in 2004–6, exceeds that of low-income economies (12.3 percent), middle-income economies (9.2–10.2 percent), and OECD countries (3.1 percent); see table 2. This is also the case at the disaggregated country level. Average protection exceeds the simple country average of all low-income and middle-income economies (10.5 percent) in 19 of the 29 African economies in the sample.9 Up to now, the focus has been on MFN rates. Table 2 presents data on levels of and changes in applied tariffs that include preferences granted under the various preferential trade agreements. The data show more extensive liberalization from the early 1990s in response to the implementation of various preferential trade agreements during this period. Current applied rates are lower than MFN rates. The difference, however, does not appear substantial and does not alter any of the conclusions drawn on the basis of the MFN rates. The aggregate data, again, hide considerable variation in protection at the sector level. Of particular interest for this paper is the extent to which liberalization reduces the cost of accessing key intermediate inputs. To evaluate this, table 2 presents the simple average tariff and change in tariffs on consumer, intermediate, and capital goods for Sub-Saharan Africa and by income group. The end-use categorization is based on the broad economic category (BEC) classification of the United Nations