Coin Open Days → more info

Date of event: Friday, December 2, 2022

Where: Online

Description: 

The West African Competitiveness Observatory is a tool to monitor trade competitiveness in West Africa and to help policymakers in the region foster national and regional competitiveness and value chain development. It is developed by the International Trade Centre (ITC) in the framework of the West Africa Competitiveness Programme (WACOMP) established by the Economic Community of West African States and supported by the European Union.

In this context, ITC has developed a methodology to analyse West African countries’ competitiveness, with a particular focus on international trade.

The methodological framework links the drivers of competitiveness with its outcomes:

Competitiveness drivers comprise any factor affecting countries’ (international trade) competitiveness in the medium run. Individual indicators are grouped in 10 pillars:

• (i) policy, governance and security
• (ii) natural resources, pollution and climate change
• (iii) transport
• (iv) electricity and ICT
• (v) human capital
• (vi) business environment
• (vii) macroeconomic environment
• (viii) trade policies and export markets
• (ix) innovation
• (x) trade facilitation

A composite indicator (score) is computed for each driver to assess how competitive a country is in that particular dimension. Due to data availability constraints (some indicators are only available for few West African countries and others only become available over the course of the project), the trade competitiveness indicators currently rely on an initial set of indicators that will be further extended.

Competitiveness outcomes are the different indicators that are affected by the competitiveness drivers and capture different dimensions of a country’s trade competitiveness. Multiple outcome indicators are developed and organized around four themes:

• (i) export competitiveness
• (ii) regional integration
• (iii) value chains
• (iv) exporting firms

 The validity of the competitiveness drivers is tested against the export competitiveness outcome indicators.

Societal impact:

Competitiveness is a key challenge for West Africa. West African countries were ranked between 111th and 130th of 141 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index in 2019. Strengthening regional competitiveness requires a broad policy approach, which includes:

• (i) ensuring that the driving factors of competitiveness are in place
• (ii) monitoring the competitiveness outcomes 
• (iii) supporting and strengthening regional value chains.

The trade competitiveness indicators presented in the West African Competitiveness Observatory will help policymakers assess the competitiveness of their country, identify gaps and challenges and formulate policies to increase competitiveness.