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In the article, the authors developed proposals for improving the accounting and management of settlements with counterparties at importing agricultural enterprises in the context of global digitalization, namely: proposed analytical accounts for accounting settlements with suppliers at importing agricultural enterprises, which will help control accounts payable, the time of its payment and help to plan agreements with suppliers and contractors; considered in detail the accounting of payments to contractors, namely the accounting of discounts from foreign suppliers on agricultural raw materials received by the enterprise, when it is provided after customs clearance of goods; developed methodical bases of management of settlements with contractors at the enterprises-importers in the conditions of global digitalization; developed and visually presented the information base of control of settlements with contractors (suppliers) in the conditions of global digitalization; analyzed the main control functions implemented in the application solutions of various software products presented on the market of Ukraine, presented an analysis of the solution of internal control problems with the help of applied products and proposed the main areas of improvement of control elements. In general, the rational organization of accounting and management of suppliers and the state of settlements with them help to strengthen contractual and settlement discipline, fulfilment of obligations to supply products in a given range and quality, increase responsibility for compliance with payment discipline, reduce receivables and payables, accelerate receivables and, consequently, to improve the financial condition of the enterprise.

External sourcing from foreign suppliers is an important aspect of the firm’s internationalization However, data on such sourcing is available from neither databases nor annual reports. Thus, the corporate risk implications of such sourcing have not been studied previously. We obtain the necessary data by surveying Scandinavian non-financial firms. We find that highly international firms reduce corporate risk by externally sourcing from foreign suppliers both compared to sourcing from own production facilities abroad (due to superior flexibility) and compared to domestic sourcing (due to off-setting cash flows). Our results are statistically significant, are economically meaningful, and have important policy implications. External sourcing from foreign suppliers is an important aspect of the firm's internationalization. However, data on such sourcing is available from neither databases nor annual reports. Thus, the corporate risk implications of such sourcing have not been studied previously. We obtain the necessary data by surveying Scandinavian non-financial firms. We find that highly international firms reduce corporate risk by externally sourcing from foreign suppliers both compared to sourcing from own production facilities abroad (due to superior flexibility) and compared to domestic sourcing (due to off-setting cash flows). Our results are statistically significant, are economically meaningful, and have important policy implications.

Evidence indicates that trade costs are a much more substantial barrier to trade than tariffs are, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper decomposes trade costs into: (i) trade facilitation, (ii) non-tariff barriers, and (iii) the costs of business services. The paper assesses the poverty and shared prosperity impacts of deep integration to reduce these three types of trade costs in: (i) the East African Customs Union–Common Market of East and Southern Africa–South African Development Community "Tripartite" Free Trade Area; (ii) within the East African Customs Union; and (iii) unilaterally by the East African Customs Union. The analysis employs an innovative, multi-region computable general equilibrium model to estimate the changes in the macroeconomic variables that impact poverty and shared prosperity. The model estimates are used in the Global Income Distribution Dynamics microsimulation model to obtain assessments of the changes in the poverty headcount and shared prosperity for each of the simulations for the six African regions or countries. The paper finds that these reforms are pro-poor. There are significant reductions in the poverty headcount and the percentage of the population living in poverty for all six of the African regions from deep integration in the Tripartite Free Trade Area or comparable unilateral reforms by the East African Customs Union. Further, the incomes of the bottom 40 percent of the populations noticeably increase in all countries or regions that are engaged in the trade reforms. The reason for the poor share in prosperity is the fact that the reforms increase unskilled wages faster than the rewards of other factors of production, as the reforms tend to favor agriculture. Despite the uniform increases in income for the poorest 40 percent, there are some cases where the share of income captured by the poorest 40 percent of the population decreases. The estimated gains vary considerably across countries and reforms. Thus, countries would have an interest in negotiating for different reforms in different agreements.

How do global supply chain linkages modify countries' incentives to impose import protection? Are these linkages empirically important determinants of trade policy? To address these questions, this paper introduces supply chain linkages into a workhorse terms-of-trade model of trade policy with political economy. Theory predicts that discretionary final goods tariffs will be decreasing in the domestic content of foreign-produced final goods. Provided foreign political interests are not too strong, final goods tariffs will also be decreasing in the foreign content of domestically-produced final goods. The paper tests these predictions using newly assembled data on bilateral applied tariffs, temporary trade barriers, and value-added contents for 14 major economies over the 1995-2009 period. There is strong support for the empirical predictions of the model. The results imply that global supply chains matter for trade policy, both in principle and in practice.

Recent data show that the institutional content of preferential trade agreements has evolved over time. Although pre-1990s preferential trade agreements mostly focused on tariff liberalization, recent agreements increasingly contain deep provisions in diverse areas, such as intellectual property rights, investment, and standards. At the same time, there has been a remarkable increase in the internationalization of production through foreign direct investment and outsourcing. This paper employs the Antràs and Helpman (2008) model of contractual frictions and global sourcing to study how deep trade agreements affect the international organization of production. The paper constructs new measures of the depth of preferential trade agreements and of vertical foreign direct investment to test the theory. Consistent with the model, the analysis finds evidence that the depth of trade agreements is correlated with vertical foreign direct investment, and that this is driven by the provisions that improve the contractibility of inputs provided by suppliers, such as regulatory provisions. Because this implication of the model is specific to the so-called “property rights” theory of the multinational firm, the findings provide empirical support to this approach vis-à-vis alternative theories of firm boundaries.

This background paper provides information on the study of the Group of 20 (G-20) and challenges faced by low-income developing countries (LIDCs). The study analyzes LIDCs development challenges and how G-20 economic policies can be coordinated so they can contribute to creating an enabling environment for their development. The focus of the paper is the role that trade and investment policies of G-20 countries play in this context. The paper is composed of three parts 1) the characteristics of LIDCs integration in the world economy, 2) the evolution of G-20 policies that affect LIDCs integration, and 3) the potential for changes in the G-20 trade and investment policy landscape to benefit LIDCs.

Economic activity in many African countries remains highly concentrated and exports are often dominated by mineral resources or a few primary products. The World Bank’s 2011 report on light manufacturing in Africa identified poor trade logistics performance as a constraint that especially penalized African exporters that relied on imported inputs, very often making them uncompetitive. The report highlighted research that demonstrated how poor logistics added roughly a 10 percent production cost penalty in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Zambia across the five subsectors of light manufacturing where opportunities were identified as greatest in Africa. The report outlined how in Africa poor trade logistics increase production costs (often wiping out the labor cost advantage) and lead to long and unreliable delivery times, making local firm’s unattractive suppliers to lead firms in global value chains (GVCs), particularly for light manufacturing. This note seeks to contribute to a review of progress in achieving export diversification through greater exports of light manufacturing products. It looks at recent trends in the exports of the five categories of light manufacturing identified as having strong potential in Africa. The note reviews progress in improving trade logistics in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on the three countries highlighted in the light manufacturing study: Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Zambia, and additionally Kenya and Uganda.

In the last decade Morocco undertook substantial, if gradual, trade liberalization by reducing tariffs, reforming trade regulations and signing free and preferential trade agreements with several regions and countries, including the United States, Turkey, the European Union and Arab countries. This paper analyzes the impact of input tariff reduction on Moroccan exporting firms through the channel of intermediate goods. Gaining access to more varied and cheaper inputs can make exporting firms more competitive, and as a result they export more. To evaluate how this policy may impact firms export performance, the paper analyzes the impact of input tariff reduction on different margins of trade with emphasis on export markets and product diversification. The identification of the effect of input tariffs on exports relies on a difference-in-difference estimator using heterogeneous access to import tariff exemption as a measure of different levels of exposure to input tariff reduction at the firm level. Overall, the analysis finds that firms that are relatively more exposed to input tariff perform better in those sectors with the largest input tariff reduction, with better access to markets, higher probability to survive when exporting new products in those sectors and higher export value growth.

MCom, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2016 Since the introduction of the Internet and the platform it created for cross-border trade, the effective enforcement and administration of consumption taxes relating to imported digital services has been an international topic of discussion and research. South Africa amended the VAT Act in 2013 in order to make provision for and clear some uncertainties relating to VAT on imported digital services. In this study, the South African VAT Act was compared to the New Zealand GST Act as well as the recommendations made by the OECD and it is submitted that the amended South African VAT Act is in general in line with the GST Act of New Zealand and the OECD recommendations with some exceptions. It could be submitted that the VAT application relating to digital services is in essence the same as traditional transactions with specific challenges due to the nature and characteristics of the digital environment. Global legislation relating the privacy of consumers worldwide as well as identification of jurisdiction of consumers of digital services remain a global challenge which adversely affects the current application of the VAT Act as well as the administration of VAT relating to imported digital services. It is submitted that the use of audit as an enforcement tool for VAT on imported digital services might be regarded as ineffective at present due to challenges experienced by foreign suppliers and tax authorities to identify jurisdiction of consumers. It is submitted that the current application of “country-based” VAT legislation should be investigated further together with other possible solutions that take into consideration cyberspace legislation in order to possibly find a more practicable and enforceable solution to international trade with e-commerce as platform. Masters

MCom (South African and International Taxation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014 This research identified that e-commerce is growing annually and has a significant impact on the South African economy. When the Minister of Finance announced that VAT registration would become compulsory for foreign suppliers importing e-commerce transactions into South Africa, there were many speculations regarding the implication this will have for South Africa. The main objectives for the research are to determine whether the current VAT structure and VAT Act in South Africa will be able to support the proposal made by the Minister of Finance and what possible challenges should be considered regarding VAT on e-commerce transactions that were already identified by other countries. It will further be considered whether the proposal is in line with current international legislation and trends. Therefore, the development and implementation of VAT on e-commerce transactions in the European Union and New Zealand were researched and discussed to obtain an understanding of the similar current VAT systems in other parts of the world. It was identified during the research that there are still challenges experienced with the implementation of VAT on e-commerce transactions. The challenges range from the anonymity of the parties to the identification of the permanent establishment of the supplier, which are discussed in detail. These challenges can lead to tax evasion and the erosion of a country’s revenue base. The proposal by the Minister of Finance is found to be in line with other countries’ implementation of VAT on e-commerce transactions. Furthermore, South Africa’s current VAT system was analysed to ascertain whether it is sufficient to implement VAT on e-commerce transactions. Currently, SARS is dependent on the consumer’s honesty to declare the VAT on all e-commerce transactions. It was further identified that there are challenges relating to the implementation of VAT on ecommerce transactions as it is lacking place of supply rules, which often creates uncertainty about whether a product is subject to VAT. It was found in the study that the current VAT system would not be sufficient to support the proposal made by the Minister of Finance without an amendment to the VAT system to secure the income from the consumption tax on e-commerce transactions. It was further found that there are worldwide still challenges experienced with the implementation of VAT on e-commerce transactions. Recommendations were made for further research relating to the new Tax Bill that is due to be released in 2014 and the impact it will have on the South African economy. Masters

This study analyzes the governance framework of the business portfolio of Mauritanian institutions and government agencies and offers avenues for reform. The report begins with an overview of the scope of work and performance of the portfolio mentioned using the term Para-Statal sector and identifies the main challenges represented by this sector. It then analyzes the governance framework of Para-statal sector of Mauritania through comparative references from the guidelines of the OECD. The diagnosis includes an analysis of the legal framework, the supervisory function, risk monitoring budget and performance in terms of delivery of services, advice to administration, transparency and dissemination of information. The report closes with a detailed and sequenced action plan compiled from observations in the diagnosis and offers a series of suggestions for appropriate reforms to the institutional context of Mauritania. The action plan focuses primarily on strengthening the monitoring of risk of the budget and proposes ways of sequenced reforms taking into account both international examples and the Mauritanian context.

The Central America region is a small market. The region contains around 43 million inhabitants (0.6 percent of total world population) who generate around 0.25 percent of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While the region has successfully embarked on a regional integration agenda and has strong commercial links with the US, extra-regional trade-mainly with large fast-growing emerging economies-remains a challenge. Export performance is analyzed along three dimensions that, together, give a fairly comprehensive picture of competitiveness: 1) the composition, orientation and growth of the export basket; 2) the degree of export diversification across products and markets; and 3) the level of sophistication and quality of their main exports. This analysis allows exports dynamics at the different margins of trade (intensive, extensive, and quality) to be evaluated and individual countries' to be benchmarked with peers in the Central American region. The results of this report allow policy makers to identify key areas to explore in the overall discussion of export competitiveness in the Central American region. This paper relates to the literature on challenges and opportunities that trade liberalization can bring to the Central American region. Much of the recent literature focuses on the role of the free trade agreement negotiated by Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, with the US.

The Central America region is a small market. The region contains around 43 million inhabitants (0.6 percent of total world population) who generate around 0.25 percent of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While the region has successfully embarked on a regional integration agenda and has strong commercial links with the US, extra-regional trade-mainly with large fast-growing emerging economies-remains a challenge. Export performance is analyzed along three dimensions that, together, give a fairly comprehensive picture of competitiveness: 1) the composition, orientation and growth of the export basket; 2) the degree of export diversification across products and markets; and 3) the level of sophistication and quality of their main exports. This analysis allows exports dynamics at the different margins of trade (intensive, extensive, and quality) to be evaluated and individual countries' to be benchmarked with peers in the Central American region. The results of this report allow policy makers to identify key areas to explore in the overall discussion of export competitiveness in the Central American region. This paper relates to the literature on challenges and opportunities that trade liberalization can bring to the Central American region. Much of the recent literature focuses on the role of the free trade agreement negotiated by Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, with the US.