ReSAKSS Working Paper No. 29

The new ReSAKSS working paper number 29 and accompanying issue brief number 13, “The Impact of Nontariff Barriers on Cross-Border Trade in Maize and Beef within the East African Community” finds that NTBs do in fact hamper trade among the EAC countries, despite the commitments under the EAC Custom’s Union Protocol to eliminate them.

The study quantifies the cost of various types of NTBs within the EAC and evaluates their welfare impacts on formal trade in maize and in beef cattle in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania using a spatial equilibrium model (SEM). Eliminating these barriers was found to have significant positive impacts on intra-regional trade with positive net welfare gains for the maize and beef subsectors in the entire region. In all cases, those who gained from the proposed reductions in NTBs could potentially compensate the losers leading to potential improvements in welfare.

For the full study, download ReSAKSS Working Paper Number 29 or the ReSAKSS Issue Brief Number 13.