Report strengthening informal cross-border trade data collection in the economic community of West African states region

Abstract

The present report was informed by interviews conducted electronically with experts in relevant fields (a list of the experts contacted can be found in the annex). Of the 27 experts targeted, 22 (81.5 per cent) were interviewed. The report is structured as follows. Section 2 contains a brief description of ECOWAS and the status of regional integration in Africa, in order to set the stage for the discussion and explain why Africa should be targeting informal cross-border traders under the AfCFTA arrangement. Section 3 contains an extensive literature review, which revealed issues related to ICBT. In section 4, the methodological framework for measuring ICBT is examined. In section 5, ICBT institutionalization and coordination measures within the ECOWAS region are discussed, while section 6 contains the conclusions and recommendations of the report.