In September 2000, the SADC FTA has been launched wherein full liberalization of trade is expected by 2012. The SADC FTA is intended to act as a catalyst for increased regional integration. Nevertheless what are the benefits expected from the SADC FTA given the economic structure disparities existing among its participating members? Is it really feasible to expand intra-SADC trade? To address the potential of increasing intra SADC trade we present and analyze three complementary approaches. The first two ones refer to trade indices: export diversification indices, revealed comparative advantages and trade complementarity indices, and the last one is based on gravity model. Given that SADC countries have concentrated and similar comparative advantages, our static analysis suggests that the room for further trade within SADC is limited.
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Paper provided by CEPII research center in its series Working Papers with number
2002-12.
Find related papers by JEL classification: O55 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration F17 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Forecasting and Simulation
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