A study on the impact of trade policy reforms on export growth the case of Tanzania

This study examined the impact of trade policy reform on export in Tanzania. The paper estimated the effect of Reforms on the export growth and also adding determinants of trade performance (domestic income, foreign income and price competitiveness). The empirical results suggest that trade reforms have significant impact on export growth. Since the 1980s, the propensity to import has exceeded the propensity to export and this has worsened the growth rate consistent with balanced trade, and this is a major explanation of the slowdown of Tanzania’s growth in recent years. The study uses Ordinary Least Square technique for the regression analysis and time scries data. Based on results from the model analysis, the result reveal that World income growth, trade liberalization, real exchange rate and lagging export growth are also the key determinants of the country’s export performance. World income growth has positive impact on the export. The exchange rate has negative relationship with export growth. It was also found out that export duty has insignificant impact on exports due to the fact that export duty put restriction on exports or imports of intermediate inputs into the host country as it influences location advantage through its impact on the cost of exporting or importing goods to the host country. According to the results it appears that it has negative effect on export growth