The Trade Specialization of SANE:Evidence from Manufacturing Industries

Abstract

This paper studies the evolution of the foreign trade specialization in manufacturing sectors of South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt. These four countries, the so-called SANE, are recently viewed as Africa’s best chance of producing an economic bloc comparable to the BRIC economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Using data on trade flows since mid-1970s, the results show that the SANE group has experienced few changes in its trade structure, which is still based on low-technology and slow-growth world demand sectors. The degree of persistence in the specialization model is higher in the case of Algeria and Nigeria, where the dependence on products based on natural resources is stronger.SANE; Trade specialization; Manufacturing; Lafay index