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Trade and Current Account Balances in Sub-Saharan Africa: Stylized Facts and Implications for Poverty

Trade and Poverty Paper Series, No. 1 (2016)

This paper examines the main components of Sub-Saharan Africa's balance of payments with a view to understanding the role that trade has played in the evolution of current account imbalances in the region.

The paper finds that increasing trade openness in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been accompanied by current account deficits in majority of the countries.

The paper also finds that while at the aggregate level net income payments were the main source of the current account deficits in SSA, in the majority of countries the trade deficit was the main driver.

Furthermore, the paper argues that the composition of the current account matters for employment and poverty and offers suggestions on how to make trade better work for SSA.

 


The aim of the Trade and Poverty Paper Series is to disseminate the findings of research work on the inter-linkages between trade and poverty and to identify policy options at the national and international levels on the use of trade as a more effective tool for poverty eradication.

The opinions expressed in papers under the series are those of the authors and are not to be taken as the official views of the UNCTAD Secretariat or its member States. The designations and terminology employed are also those of the authors.

This is an unedited publication.

Trade and Current Account Balances in Sub-Saharan Africa: Stylized Facts and Implications for Poverty  - Trade and Poverty Paper Series, No. 1 (2016)  (UNCTAD/WEB/ALDC/2016/2)
20 May 2016