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Trade Liberalisation, Balance of Payments and Tax Revenue in Sub-Saharan Africa

Kassim, Olanrewaju Malik (2016) Trade Liberalisation, Balance of Payments and Tax Revenue in Sub-Saharan Africa. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent. (doi:10.22024/UniKent/01.02.54868) (Access to this publication is currently restricted. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:54868)

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https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/01.02.54868

Abstract

This thesis examines the impact of trade liberalisation on export growth, import growth, balance of payments and tax revenue of 28 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from 1981 to 2010. Instead of relying on the Dean et al (1994) or Wacziarg and Welch (2008) liberalisation measures, we construct an index of trade liberalisation following a careful examination of trade policy reviews of sampled countries. Also, we adopt the average duties of exports and imports as additional measures of liberalisation.

In Chapter two, we examine whether trade liberalisation has led to faster growth of imports than exports in Sub-Saharan Africa using fixed effects and generalised methods of moments estimators. Results show that imports grew faster than exports by approximately two percentage points which gives a preliminary indication that the trade balance of Sub-Saharan African countries declined following the adoption of freer trade policies. In addition, we found a low price elasticity of demand for exports which suggest that exports in the region are still mainly composed of primary commodities.

The impact of trade liberalisation on the trade balance and the current account balance of Sub-Saharan African countries is examined in Chapter three of this thesis. Using a Pooled Mean Group estimator, results showed that the implementation of freer trade reforms has led to a deterioration of both the trade balance and the current account balance of SSA countries by 3.5 and 2.5 percentage points of GDP, respectively.

In Chapter 4, the relationship between trade liberalisation and tax revenues is analysed for SSA countries using the fixed effects and generalised methods of moments estimators. We found that the reduction in average trade taxes has significantly decreased trade and total tax revenues as percentages of GDP; albeit, marginally increasing domestic tax revenues. Moreover, the removal of quantitative restrictions (that is, the liberalisation dummy) has led to an increase in total tax revenue of Sub-Saharan African countries.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy (PhD))
Thesis advisor: Heady, Christopher J
Thesis advisor: Thirlwall, A.P.
DOI/Identification number: 10.22024/UniKent/01.02.54868
Additional information: The author of this thesis has requested that it be held under closed access. We are sorry but we will not be able to give you access or pass on any requests for access. 18/10/2021
Uncontrolled keywords: TRADE LIBERALISATION; BALANCE OF PAYMENTS; TAX REVENUE; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; PANEL DATA;
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Economics
Depositing User: Users 1 not found.
Date Deposited: 11 Apr 2016 10:40 UTC
Last Modified: 17 Aug 2022 12:20 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/54868 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Kassim, Olanrewaju Malik.

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