ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme. An Instrument for Creating Prosperity or Retrogressive Invention?

Scientific Essay from the year 2014 in the subject Economics - Foreign Trade Theory, Trade Policy, language: English, abstract: This paper focuses on ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme and its attendant challenges for regional integration in West Africa. The paper draws on academic and policy literatures, empirical evidence and participant observation as well as elite interviews. It submitted that the ETLS launched to facilitate the establishment of a Common External Tariff and the creation of a Free Trade Area had not achieved its intended mandate or objective. Several obstacles still impeded growth of subregional bilateral ties and intra-trade in West Africa and realigning the protocols to suit the economy of member states is therefore inevitable. Although established to promote intra-trade in West Africa and facilitate accelerated economic progress among member states, ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) is yet to be fully realised. Scholars have argued that ETLS has recorded significant economic feats for member states in the subregion; but some contended that ETLS performance has been discouraging and this became noticeable with the call by some legislators in Nigeria (the biggest economy in the region) for a technical exit of Nigeria from the regional body. More than two decades after the launching of the ETLS, ECOWAS member states still seem to choose products and investments from outside West Africa rather than trade, manufacture and add value within and when they trade with themselves, economic sabotage, sharp economic practices and abuse of ETLS rules of Origin seems to be the norm, hurting members economy rather than building it.