Impact of the Economic Community of West African States Common External Tariff and European Union Economic Partnership Agreements

Abstract

This study made use of the Tariff Reform Impact Simulation Tool, which was developed by the World Bank for tax impact assessments and adopts a microsimulation methodology. The modelling tool was applied to four countries in the subregion: three least developed countries, namely Benin, the Niger and Togo, and one developing country, namely Côte d’Ivoire. Those countries were chosen because similar World Bank studies had been conducted in Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal. There are a number of advantages to using this methodology: the methodology uses fees and duties that are actually collected rather than statutory fees and duties; it takes into account value added tax (VAT) or sales tax and excise duties paid at borders; it does not make use of total reported gross imports, which include goods in transit, placed in deposit or destined for special economic zones; and it allows researchers to run extremely detailed income simulations using the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System at the 10-digit level.