Assessment of the impact of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the ECOWAS countries and the European Union

Abstract

This report sets out to assess the economic impact of the trade component of the EPA between West African countries and the EU. To that end, two complementary methodologies were adopted: one in general equilibrium and the other in partial equilibrium. The combination of these two approaches is due to the fact that general equilibrium analysis does not incorporate the impacts at the country level. Analysis of trade policies presupposes the study of the implications of these instruments on the productive structure of the economies at the national and international levels. These instruments have direct and indirect effects on the relative prices of the goods produced in different sectors of a given country. Owing to the various sectoral interactions, general-equilibrium models need to be used in order to explore the economic consequences of modifying trade policy instruments, such as the consequences engendered by a partnership agreement of this nature.