Policies, Prices, and Poverty : The Sugar, Vegetable Oil, and Flour Industries in Senegal

Mbaye, Ahmadou Aly ; Golub, Stephen S. ; English, Philip

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: HARMONIZATION;    RETAIL PRICE;    MARKET STRUCTURE;    SUBSTITUTION;    RED TAPE;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7286
RP-ID  :  WPS7286

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Like many countries in Sub-SaharanAfrica, Senegal has struggled to develop its industrialsector in the face of import competition. For basic foodproducts, there is an implicit trade-off between theobjectives of maintaining employment and lowering the costof living, both of which figure prominently in currentgovernment policy. Conflicting pressures have led to arather inconsistent policy mix of high levels of protectionwith price ceilings. The products of the three industriesexamined here—sugar, vegetable oil, and flour—account forroughly 14 percent of the consumption basket of the poor, sodistortions in their prices can have a significant effect onpoverty reduction. This paper compares domestic prices inSenegal with world prices since 2000, and then explains thedifference by examining the protection enjoyed by theseindustries, along with their market structure. The analysisfinds that high protection and market power have resulted indomestic prices which were often two or three times theequivalent world price. Tightening of price ceilings andsome liberalization have taken place recently, but consumershave continued to pay above world prices for sugar andedible oil in 2014. The paper estimates that if thisdifferential were eliminated, the purchasing power ofhouseholds around the poverty line would increase by 3percent, 227,000 people would move above the poverty line,and the national poverty rate would drop by 1.9 percentagepoints. The cost to consumers far exceeds the total wagebill paid by these industries. Further liberalization ofthese industries is recommended, along with phasing outprice controls and shifting government policy fromprotecting traditional enterprises to the promotion of newexport-oriented ones.