New Trade Issues: Traditional Versus Non-traditional Exports

Structural adjustment programmes have been under implementation now in sub-Saharan Africa for more than a decade. These adjustment programmes have consisted of demand management policies on the demand side and switching policies on the supply side. One expectation of the supply-side policies has been the reallocation of resources from non-traded goods sectors to the traded goods sectors. This is often assumed to be an essential component of trade reform. Within the context of the structural adjustment programmes, however, trade reform is usually silent about the allocation of resources within the traded sectors, presumably leaving this question up to the market. Indeed, in much of SSA, the market has continued to reinforce the production of traditional exports still in place from the colonial period. However, even if there were a shift in resources toward the production of existing traditional exports, there are indications that such a course of action may not be consistent with the long-term development objective of creating a viable and dynamic export sector in African economies (on this point, see Chapters 2, 5 and 16).