Trade Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis in Africa

Brenton, Paul ; Chemutai, Vicky

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: MEDICAL GOODS TRADE;    FOOD TRADE;    GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN;    TRADE POLICY;    CORONAVIRUS;   

RP-ID  :  147452

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Countries in Africa should strive tomaintain trade flows during the crisis to secure access tomedical goods and services, and food and other essentialitems such as farm inputs. This requires keeping bordersopen to the largest extent possible and avoiding measuressuch as export bans or taxes. Countries should take actionto reduce taxes and duties on trade, to streamline tradeprocedures and to support transport and logistics servicesin maintaining cross-border and international value chains.By joining together, countries in Africa can implementcoordinated trade measures that result in better responsesto the crisis. Joint actions include bilateral cooperationon border management, joint information campaigns,coordinated purchasing of medical equipment, partnering onrepurposing production to produce medical goods, andmanagement of health specialists to deal with emerginghotspots on the continent. Development partners shouldsupport coordinated actions by regional institutions throughanalysis, technical assistance and perhaps operationalprojects. Identifying the appropriate level (sub-national,national, regional, continental) for interventions and themost effective institutions, in terms of relevance andcapacity, to manage coordinated actions will be essential.