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GTAP Resources: Resource Display

GTAP Resource #2040

"The Impact of the Multifiber Agreement Phase out on trade in North African Countries: a Prospective Analysis ."
by Ben Hammouda, Hakim, Nassim Oulmane and Mustapha Sadni Jallab


Abstract
For more than three decades the textile and clothing sector has been the subject of special attention in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and its trade in goods oriented predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). This is partly because the textile and clothing sector – one of the most widely distributed industries in the world and a key provider of employment – has long been recognised as an essential factor for economic and social development and one where market interventions were deemed to be necessary.

But since labour costs are an important differentiating component of this sector’s competitiveness, a number of industrialised countries (who might otherwise have been unable to compete) sought to shield this sector from foreign competition. This led to quantitative restrictions being introduced especially by Europe and the United States, on top of already high tariff-based restrictions. While the initial objective of the MFA was to prevent the “uncontrolled” expansion of textile and clothing exports from developing countries, it took over twenty years for an agreement to be concluded that would see the eventual removal of these quota restrictions. While the textile and clothing sector had for a long time enjoyed a special dispensation within the multilateral trade regime including the Uruguay round of trade negotiations, the WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) eventually became the instrument that was to regulate quota phase-out. It was implemented in 1995, and set specific targets over a 10-year period ending with the final tranche of quotas being removed on 1 January 2005. The ATC is binding on all WTO member States.

Using a general equilibrium model (GTAP, version 6), the paper provides a quantitative assessment of the impact of the Multifiber Agreement dismantling on trade in North African countries and proposes some political recommendations in order to limit the cost of the MFA phasing out on North African economies.


Resource Details (Export Citation) GTAP Keywords
Category: 2006 Conference Paper
Status: Published
By/In: Presented at the 9th Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Date: 2006
Version:
Created: Oulmane, N. (5/1/2006)
Updated: Batta, G. (10/5/2006)
Visits: 4,413
No keywords have been specified.


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