OVERVIEW
Market Access Strategy in a New Trade Environment Souleymane Coulibaly, Woubet Kassa, and Albert G. Zeufack
Introduction Sub-Saharan Africa faces an international trade environment that is ever changing, bringing new challenges and opportunities for increasing growth and reducing poverty. Among the latest developments, the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic since January 2020 has crippled economies around the world—including in Africa—through the direct health shock, the effects of pandemic containment measures on domestic economies, and the consequent disruption of global trade in goods and services. Even before COVID-19 struck, however, a steady string of developments had been affecting the trade environment faced by African economies. These included the resurgence of protectionist rhetoric, a global economic slowdown, proliferation of regional trade agreements at the expense of the global trading system (as represented by the World Trade Organization), increased global fragmentation of production across borders, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (whose disruptive, labor-saving technologies include the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and advanced robotics). The effective participation of Sub-Saharan African countries in this everevolving global trade environment remains central to boosting growth and development in the region. Indeed, the economic growth success stories of the recent past (including China, the Republic of Korea, and Malaysia) are largely attributed to their participation in international trade. Participation of firms in global trade is effective in spreading the benefits of new technology to improve overall welfare (Melitz 2003; Segerstrom 2013). Increased access to foreign markets yields increases in productivity and is central to industrialization prospects and job creation.
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