The Economy -wide Impact of Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) on Ethiopia: A Recursive Dynamic Computable General Equilibrium Approach

No Thumbnail Available

Date

2016-06

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

This study examines the economy wide impact of CFTA on Ethiopia. The analysis is made based on Ethiopian social accounting matrix (SAM) of 2009/10 constructed by EDRI. The study has utilized a recursive dynamic CGE model. The model is simulated for an import tariff reduction on different sectors using three different scenarios. The scenarios involve joining CFTA at one time, in 2016, or through phases, a 25% tariff removal each year from 2016-2019. Another scenario involves excluding strategic sectors from the CFTA. The impact of CFTA result shows, Government revenue also decreases as tariff revenue is an important source of revenue for the Ethiopian government. GDP and trade balance are, however, positively affected. The increase in GDP might be associated to the increase in disaggregated production. The larger increase in exports as compared to the increase in imports leads to an improvement in trade balance. Household consumption expenditure also increases. This might be due to the availability of cheap consumption commodities from abroad due to the removal of tariff. On the other hand, our results show a decrease in investment which might be attributed to the inability of domestic producers to compete with foreign suppliers at a lower price. Our findings also show that protection of strategic sectors benefits only producers in these sectors. Exclusion of strategic sectors from CFTA helps producers face less competition as the price of imported commodities will include tariffs. Protection of strategic sectors will also increase government revenue. The impact of protecting strategic sectors on the overall economy, however, is negative, which is it results in a decrease in GDP.

Description

Keywords

Recursive dynamic CGE model, CFTA, Import tariff reduction, Ethiopia

Citation