{
  "title": "Expanding Trade Across The Maghreb",
  "publication": "IMF Blog, April 23, 2019",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2019/04/23/blog-expanding-trade-across-the-maghreb",
  "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2019/04/23/blog-expanding-trade-across-the-maghreb",
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  "summary": "In 1989, the five Maghreb countries—Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia—established the Arab Maghreb Union to promote cooperation and economic integration.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Background",
      "content": "- In 1989, the five Maghreb countries—Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia—established the Arab Maghreb Union to promote cooperation and economic integration.\n- Thirty years later, there is still a largely untapped potential for regional trade among Maghreb countries.\n- The issue is highlighted as important because all Maghreb countries need to create jobs for their young and growing populations."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Current trade patterns",
      "content": "- Existing intra-Maghreb trade is limited and concentrated in a few goods:\n  - Fuels and mineral oils exported from Algeria to Tunisia and Morocco.\n  - Vegetable oils, machinery, iron and steel exported by Tunisia to Algeria and Libya.\n  - Iron, steel, apparel and clothing, vehicles and electric equipment exported by Morocco to Algeria, Tunisia, and Mauritania."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Opportunities for expanded trade",
      "content": "- The authors’ calculations identify many opportunities for further trade, including:\n  - Transport services, food, metals and chemicals from Morocco to Tunisia.\n  - Minerals from Morocco to Algeria.\n  - Different types of fuels traded in reverse between countries.\n  - Tunisia exporting vegetables to Morocco and minerals to Algeria."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Potential benefits and projections",
      "content": "- Greater openness to intra-regional trade in goods and services would:\n  - Create a large market attractive to investors.\n  - Help build regional value-chains and link them to global value-chains.\n  - Increase resilience to economic shocks.\n  - Provide opportunities for nearly 100 million people.\n- The IMF paper estimates that growth in Maghreb countries could increase by one percentage point in the long term as a result of deeper economic integration."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Pathways to integration and policy considerations",
      "content": "- Participants at the IMF-World Bank 2019 Spring Meetings discussed approaches to achieve deeper integration:\n  - Integration could be achieved gradually by weaving together links in sectors and among countries as conditions allow.\n  - Times of economic crisis or political transition may provide opportunities for faster integration.\n  - New technologies were seen as potentially powerful accelerators of economic integration, since technology knows no borders.\n\nExpanding Trade Across The Maghreb — Ramzy Al Amine, Jean-François Dauphin, Alexei Kireyev, April 23, 2019.\n\n---\n\n\n References\n\n- https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/MCD-Maghreb-Animation-Chart-of-the-Week.gif\n- recently published paper\n- participants discussed the potential benefits from deeper economic integration\n- Economic Growth and Fairness in the Middle East and North Africa\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2019/04/23/blog-expanding-trade-across-the-maghreb"
    }
  ],
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    "[Markdown version](/en/blogs/articles/2019/04/23/blog-expanding-trade-across-the-maghreb/index.md)",
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    "Authors: Ramzy Al Amine, JeanFranois Dauphin, Alexei Kireyev",
    "Published: April 23, 2019",
    "In 1989, the five Maghreb countries—Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia—established the Arab Maghreb Union to promote cooperation and economic integration.",
    "Thirty years later, there is still a largely untapped potential for regional trade among Maghreb countries.",
    "The issue is highlighted as important because all Maghreb countries need to create jobs for their young and growing populations.",
    "Existing intra-Maghreb trade is limited and concentrated in a few goods:",
    "The authors’ calculations identify many opportunities for further trade, including:",
    "Greater openness to intra-regional trade in goods and services would:",
    "The IMF paper estimates that growth in Maghreb countries could increase by one percentage point in the long term as a result of deeper economic integration.",
    "Participants at the IMF-World Bank 2019 Spring Meetings discussed approaches to achieve deeper integration:",
    "[https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/MCD-Maghreb-Animation-Chart-of-the-Week.gif](https://www.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/MCD-Maghreb-Animation-Chart-of-the-Week.gif)",
    "[recently published paper](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Departmental-Papers-Policy-Papers/Issues/2019/02/08/Economic-Integration-in-the-Maghreb-An-Untapped-Source-of-Growth-46273)",
    "[participants discussed the potential benefits from deeper economic integration](https://www.imf.org/external/mmedia/view.aspx?vid=6027214519001)",
    "[Economic Growth and Fairness in the Middle East and North Africa](https://blogs.imf.org/2018/01/18/economic-growth-and-fairness-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa/)"
  ],
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}