The Impact of Trade Liberalisation on Export Growth and Import Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

This empirical paper adopts panel data methodologies to investigate the impact of trade liberalisation on export growth and import growth across 28 Sub-Saharan African countries from 1981 to 2010. The results show that trade liberalisation increases the growth of exports; however, imports grow faster by approximately two percentage points which gives a prima facie evidence that the trade balance in the region deteriorated in the post-liberalisation era. We also find that trade liberalisation significantly raises the price elasticity of demand for exports and imports; however, it does not significantly affect income elasticity of demand.