Analysis of the Competitiveness and Sophistication of Exports in Ecowas Countries: The Case of Measuring Trade in Value Added Products
Date
2021-07-12
Authors
Fofana, Abdul-Fahd
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research Consortium
Abstract
The objective of this study was first to analyze the participation of Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries in the global value chain.
Then, an analysis was done of the export performance of these countries in value
added trade through export competitiveness and sophistication. The results show
that the participation of these countries in the global value chain is strongly driven
by downstream integration, that is, exports of primary products. About export
performance in value added trade, the results suggest that the export basket of
these countries is uncompetitive. The results also highlighted the low sophistication
of the export basket with a very high degree of heterogeneity between countries.