The impact of customs and trade regulations on the operations of African firms

This paper uses data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys to investigate the extent to which customs and trade regulations are perceived to be an obstacle to the operations of establishments in Africa. It examines variations in responses to a question on the impact of customs and trade regulations in establishments across a range of African countries and investigates the factors that determine the observed differences. The regression models focus particularly on three sets of influences. The results indicate that small establishments that engage internationally are less likely to report customs and trade regulations as an obstacle. In contrast, such obstacles were deemed to be more severe in establishments that also considered corruption and political instability to be obstacles. This was also generally the case for establishments located in lower income countries.