## Assessing Competitiveness After Conflict: The Case of the Central African Republic

_IMF Working Papers, December 1, 2006_

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Mark W Lewis, Jean-Claude Nachega, Said A Bakhache, Kadima D. Kalonji
- Published: December 1, 2006
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451865639.001

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### Scope and Methods
- Assesses competitiveness in the Central African Republic, a postconflict country.
- Presents several conventional techniques for assessing competitiveness:
  - Real exchange rate analysis.
  - Recent trade performance analysis.
- Considers several other measures that may better capture post-conflict obstacles:
  - Transport costs.
  - Governance measures.
- Emphasis on measures that reflect the effects of poor security environment and weak institutions common to many post-conflict situations.

### Key Findings
- Real exchange rate measure and trade measures:
  - Suggest some mild erosion of competitiveness in recent years.
- Transport cost and governance measures:
  - Indicate that the competitiveness challenges faced by the Central African Republic are much deeper than implied by conventional measures.

### Thematic Implications
- Conventional indicators (real exchange rate; trade performance) may understate competitiveness problems in post-conflict settings.
- High transport costs and weak governance are central barriers to restoring and improving competitiveness in the Central African Republic.
- The interaction of poor security, weak institutions, transport infrastructure, and governance exacerbates competitiveness constraints beyond currency and trade metrics.

### Policy-Relevant Conclusions
- Assessments of competitiveness in post-conflict countries should supplement conventional indicators with measures of transport costs and governance to capture deeper obstacles.
- Policy responses aiming to restore competitiveness should address:
  - Reductions in transport costs (infrastructure, logistics, connectivity).
  - Improvements in governance and security to mitigate institutional barriers to trade and investment.

*Source: IMF Working Paper No. 2006/303 (2006) by Mark W Lewis, Jean-Claude Nachega, Said A Bakhache, Kadima D. Kalonji.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/assessing-competitiveness-after-conflict-the-case-of-the-central-african-republic-20117_