National Trade Policies and Smuggling in Africa: The Case of The Gambia and Senegal

Much of inter-regional trade in Africa is unrecorded and consists of smuggling. The Gambia is almost wholly enclosed within Senegal, yet official trade statistics show almost no trade between the two countries, failing to capture large-scale smuggling. Smuggling reflects pre-colonial traditional tra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:World development 2009-03, Vol.37 (3), p.595-606
Main Authors: Golub, Stephen S., Mbaye, Ahmadou Aly
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa
Estimation
Gambia
International trade
Price differentiation
Prices
re-exports
Senegal
Smuggling
smuggling international trade re-exports Africa Senegal The Gambia
Studies
The Gambia
Trade policy
Trade relations
Trade volume
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Summary:Much of inter-regional trade in Africa is unrecorded and consists of smuggling. The Gambia is almost wholly enclosed within Senegal, yet official trade statistics show almost no trade between the two countries, failing to capture large-scale smuggling. Smuggling reflects pre-colonial traditional trading relationships, the artificial nature of borders created in the colonial era, and the disparities in trade policies between the two countries following independence, inducing large cross-border price differentials for goods. This paper documents the magnitude of trade protection in the two countries, the resulting price differences, and estimates the volume of smuggling.
ISSN:0305-750X
1873-5991
DOI:10.1016/j.worlddev.2008.08.006