• Login
  • Register
Nairametrics
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
    • Economy
    • Nairalytics
  • Markets
    • Currencies
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Company Results
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Sectors
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Corporate Updates
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Health
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Renewables & Sustainability
    • Tech News
  • Business News
    • Budget
    • Public Debt
    • Funds Management
    • Tax
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
    • Research Analysis
  • Recapitalization
    • Access Holdings Offer
    • Fidelity Bank Offer
    • GTCO Offer
    • Zenith Bank Offer
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
    • Economy
    • Nairalytics
  • Markets
    • Currencies
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Company Results
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Sectors
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Corporate Updates
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Health
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Renewables & Sustainability
    • Tech News
  • Business News
    • Budget
    • Public Debt
    • Funds Management
    • Tax
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
    • Research Analysis
  • Recapitalization
    • Access Holdings Offer
    • Fidelity Bank Offer
    • GTCO Offer
    • Zenith Bank Offer
Nairametrics
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinions Blurb

Stories from Benin: on smuggling, informal trade, and tariffs

Nonso Obikili by Nonso Obikili
July 26, 2018
in Blurb
Market
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin

There is a new interesting paper on informal trade in Benin Republic, our favorite trading partner to the west. Favorite because they have long offered an easy way to bypass our trade policy which can sometimes be senseless.

The summary of the paper is that there is a lot informal trade. The paper finds that a large part of informal trade with Benin is in petroleum products, which accounts for 90% of all imports to Benin from Nigeria. If you exclude petroleum products then the ratio of formal to informal trade is about 1 for imports to Benin from Nigeria. The ratio of informal to formal exports from Benin to Nigeria is an amazing 5 to 1, at least as at when the survey was done. The bottom line is that the vast majority of trade is informal and unrecorded.

Of course, if you know anything about trade between Nigeria and Benin then none of this comes as a surprise. This is not news. What is surprising to me is just how vast the trading operation is.

RelatedStories

Nigerian Custom service

Nigeria, Benin Republic agree on single-entry declaration form for border crossing

June 8, 2024
Benin Republic, Patrice Talon

Benin Republic raises $750 million in first-ever dollar bonds as demand hit $5 billion

February 7, 2024
Source: Regional Integration and Informal Trade in Africa: Evidence from Benin’s Borders.

There are informal border crossings all along the borders with Nigeria, Togo, Niger, and Burkina Faso. What this means is enforcement of trade policy of any kind will be extremely difficult. We tend to focus on the Seme border in Nigeria but that strategy is probably pointless. As the authors find, a ten percent increase in tariffs increases the probability that the product will be traded informally by 0.12. Traders simply go informal when faced with higher formalization costs.

What all this means is trade policy coordination is necessary. We cannot ban things from Benin because such a ban will be almost impossible to enforce, and raising tariffs might be similarly pointless. Also, making formal trade easy needs to be front and center of any policy. If you can’t force traders to formalize then you have to make formalization as easy as possible.

The paper is “Regional Integration and Informal Trade in Africa: Evidence from Benin’s Borders” by Cristina Mitaritonna, Joachim Jarreau, and Sami Bensassi.


Follow us for Breaking News and Market Intelligence.
Tags: Benin Republicinformal trade
Nonso Obikili

Nonso Obikili

Related Posts

Nigerian Custom service
Business

Nigeria, Benin Republic agree on single-entry declaration form for border crossing

June 8, 2024
Benin Republic, Patrice Talon
Economy

Benin Republic raises $750 million in first-ever dollar bonds as demand hit $5 billion

February 7, 2024
Dollar bond
Economy

Benin Republic to raise $750 million in first ever dollar-bond issuance

February 2, 2024
Malaria vaccine
Health

Benin Republic receives 215,900 doses of malaria vaccine

January 16, 2024
NUC building
Business News

FG temporarily suspends accreditation of degree certificates from Benin, Togo

January 2, 2024
NSCDC jointly expose 12 illegal oil refining sites in Delta
Business News

Nigeria, 3 others launch operations to combat sea piracy

September 12, 2023
Next Post
NCC

NCC wants investors to fully harness the potentials of Nigeria's tech sector

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Emple
nlng
first bank








DUNS

Recent News

  • JAMB releases 2025 UTME mop-up results across Nigeria 
  • Nigeria placed 3rd in Africa for highest Air Ticket charges in 2024 – New Report
  • Nigeria Customs warns public against fake July CBT recruitment shortlist, vows actions against fraudsters 

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

2025 UTME: JAMB to investigate mass complaints over low scores and technical issues 

JAMB releases 2025 UTME mop-up results across Nigeria 

July 6, 2025
Airlines, African airlines

Nigeria placed 3rd in Africa for highest Air Ticket charges in 2024 – New Report

July 6, 2025
  • iOS App
  • Android App
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Markets
  • Sectors
  • Economy
  • Business News
  • Financial Literacy
  • Disclaimer
  • Ads Disclaimer
  • Copyright Infringement

© 2025 Nairametrics

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
    • Economy
    • Nairalytics
  • Markets
    • Currencies
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Company Results
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Sectors
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Corporate Updates
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Health
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Renewables & Sustainability
    • Tech News
  • Business News
    • Budget
    • Public Debt
    • Funds Management
    • Tax
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
    • Research Analysis
  • Recapitalization
    • Access Holdings Offer
    • Fidelity Bank Offer
    • GTCO Offer
    • Zenith Bank Offer
  • Login
  • Sign Up

© 2025 Nairametrics