ANNEX 1 BENIN Benin WT/TPR/S/236/BEN/Rev.1 Page 73 CONTENTS Page I. ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT 77 (1) MAIN FEATURES 77 (2) RECENT ECONOMIC TRENDS 79 (3) TRENDS IN TRADE AND INVESTMENT 82 (i) Trade in goods and services 82 (ii) Foreign direct investment 82 (4) OUTLOOK 83 II. TRADE AND INVESTMENT REGIMES 86 (1) EXECUTIVE, LEGISLATURE AND JUDICIARY 86 (2) TRADE POLICY FRAMEWORK 88 (i) Institutional framework 88 (ii) Broad outlines of trade policy 89 (3) CONSULTATION BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR 89 (4) INVESTMENT REGIME 90 (i) Legislation 90 (ii) Institutional framework 92 (iii) Settlement of investment-related disputes 93 (5) INDUSTRIAL FREE ZONE REGIME 93 III. TRADE POLICIES AND PRACTICES BY MEASURE 95 (1) INTRODUCTION 95 (2) MEASURES DIRECTLY AFFECTING IMPORTS 96 (i) Registration 96 (ii) Customs procedures 96 (iii) Preshipment inspection and customs valuation 97 (iv) Rules of origin 98 (v) Customs levies 99 (vi) Prohibitions, quantitative restrictions and licensing 103 (vii) Standards, technical regulations and accreditation procedures 105 (viii) Sanitary and phytosanitary measures 106 (ix) Packaging, marking and labelling requirements 108 (x) Contingency measures 109 (xi) Other measures 109 (3) MEASURES DIRECTLY AFFECTING EXPORTS 109 (i) Registration and customs procedures 109 (ii) Goods in transit 110 (iii) Export prohibitions and controls 111 (iv) Export subsidies and promotion 111 (4) MEASURES AFFECTING PRODUCTION AND TRADE 112 (i) Incentives 112 (ii) Competition and price control regime 112 (iii) State trading, State-owned enterprises and privatization 113 (iv) Government procurement 115 (v) Protection of intellectual property rights 116 WT/TPR/S/236/BEN/Rev.1 Trade Policy Review Page 74 Page IV. TRADE POLICIES AND PRACTICES BY SECTOR 118 (1) INTRODUCTION 118 (2) AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCK AND FORESTRY 118 (i) Overview 118 (ii) Agricultural policy 121 (iii) Policies by subsector 124 (3) MINING, ENERGY AND WATER 129 (i) Petroleum and gas products 129 (ii) Electricity 131 (iii) Water 134 (iv) Mining products 135 (4) MANUFACTURING 136 (i) Principal trade regulations 136 (ii) Upgrading programme 136 (5) SERVICES 137 (i) Telecommunications and postal services 137 (ii) Transport 140 (iii) Tourism 144 (iv) Financial services 145 (v) Professional and business services 147 V. AID FOR TRADE 148 (1) OVERVIEW 148 (2) INTEGRATION OF TRADE INTO THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 149 (i) National development strategy 149 (ii) Integrated Framework 149 (iii) Supply-side constraints 150 (iv) Aid-for-Trade needs 150 (3) AID-FOR-TRADE ASSISTANCE 151 (i) Overview of development aid flows in the economy 151 (ii) Overview of Aid for Trade 151 (iii) Trade-related technical assistance 154 (4) MATCHING NEEDS AND ASSISTANCE 155 (i) National coordination mechanisms 155 (ii) Monitoring and evaluation 156 (5) OUTLOOK FOR AID FOR TRADE 157 REFERENCES 159 APPENDIX TABLES 163 Benin WT/TPR/S/236/BEN/Rev.1 Page 75 CHARTS Page I. ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT I.1 Structure of trade in goods, 2003 and 2009 84 I.2 Direction of trade in goods, 2003 and 2009 85 IV. TRADE POLICIES AND PRACTICES BY SECTOR IV.1 Trend in imports of food products, 2000-2009 120 IV.2 Trend in domestic production, imports and total supplies of electricity, 1996-2008 132 TABLES I. ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT I.1 Basic economic indicators, 2003-2009 78 I.2 Balance of payments, 2004-2009 81 II. TRADE AND INVESTMENT REGIMES II.1 Principal ministries and institutions dealing with international trade and foreign investment, May 2010 87 II.2 Institutions providing support for trade and investment, May 2010 90 II.3 Tax concessions under Benin's industrial free zone regime 94 III. TRADE POLICIES AND PRACTICES BY MEASURE III.1 Ecotax, 2009 101 III.2 Exemptions, 2004-2009 102 III.3 Plants and plant products banned for import, 2009 103 III.4 Temporary import bans, 2009 105 III.5 SPS regulatory framework 106 III.6 SPS notifications, December 2009 108 III.7 Summary of taxes on exports, re-exports and goods in transit, 2009 110 III.8 State intervention in the economy, 2010 114 IV. TRADE POLICIES AND PRACTICES BY SECTOR IV.1 Production of food crops and principal crops, 2000-2007 119 IV.2 Major agricultural exports, 2000 and 2007 119 IV.3 Major agricultural imports, 2000 and 2007 121 IV.4 Cotton indicators, 1999-2010 124 IV.5 Indicative producer purchase prices determined by the Commission on production factors, 1997-2010 126 IV.6 Price of electricity, prior to July 2009 and after July 2009 134 IV.7 Texts and legislation on postal and telecommunications services, 2009 138 IV.8 Trend in container traffic, 2001-2009 141 IV.9 Indicators for activities at Cotonou airport, 2004-2008 143 V. AID FOR TRADE V.1 Aid-for-Trade flows: CRS auxiliary date, 2005-2008 152 V.2 Donor actions 153 WT/TPR/S/236/BEN/Rev.1 Trade Policy Review Page 76 APPENDIX TABLES Page I. ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT AI.1 Structure of imports, 2003-2009 165 AI.2 Structure of exports, 2003-2009 166 AI.3 Origin of imports, 2003-2009 167 AI.4 Destination of exports, 2003-2009 168 Benin WT/TPR/S/236/BEN/Rev.1 Page 77 I. ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT (1) MAIN FEATURES 1. Because of Benin's structural weaknesses, its economy remains vulnerable to external shocks. Economic growth still essentially depends on trends in agriculture, where the level of mechanization continues to be fairly low. Consequently, the Beninese economy's overall performance remains heavily reliant on weather factors and on the global price for cotton, still Benin's main export. Benin also depends to a large extent on imports for its energy needs; in 2005, the electricity imported covered 87.7 per cent of total requirements, while domestic production (99.1 per cent thermal energy) relied on supplies of hydrocarbons. Furthermore, the cost of domestically generated electricity was two times higher than that of imported electricity.1 2. Some 57 per cent of the population, estimated to be almost 8.5 million in 2009, live in rural areas (Table I.1), underlining the importance of the primary sector as a source of jobs and income. The structure of Benin's GDP has in fact remained unchanged since 2003; services and agriculture continue to dominate the economy, while manufacturing and mining are still at an embryonic stage. Despite the considerable potential of mining resources, there is very little exploitation of the subsoil. The country's geographical situation opens up significant opportunities for transport, transit and tourism. In general, services consist of re-exports to the huge market in Nigeria; according to estimates by the BCEAO, the value of re-exports (both official and informal) represented more than 8 per cent of GDP over the period 2004-2009. Overall, the informal sector still plays an important role. 3. As a least developed country (LDC), Benin receives external support in the form of debt cancellation, which frees up internal resources to finance large planning projects and social programmes. According to figures from the BCEAO, multilateral debt relief, amounting to a total of CFAF 570.3 billion in 2006, has greatly reduced the outstanding external debt to GDP ratio; additional bilateral and multilateral cancellations for a total of CFAF 3.9 billion were granted in 2009. Benin nevertheless still depends on transfers from abroad, notably development aid, for its long-term financing. On average, 21.1 per cent of total government spending was financed by external resources during the period 2003-2009, half of it in the form of grants. 4. Although the country has an ambitious social programme, poverty in Benin still gives cause for concern and social services only provide limited cover. The average poverty rate (with wide regional variations) was estimated to be 33.3 per cent in 2007, compared to 28.5 per cent in 20022, although it has gone down compared to the figure for 2006 (37.2 per cent). The literacy rate among young people and adults has risen since 2002, but is still fairly low, 52.4 per cent and 40.5 cent, respectively, in 2007. The prevalence rate for HIV/Aids went from 1.3 per cent in 2002 to 1.2 per cent in 2007.3 1 BCEAO (2007). 2 UNDP (2009). 3 World Bank Group, online information. Viewed at: http://ddp-ext.worldbank.org/ext/ DDPQQ/member.do?method=getMembers&userid=1&queryId=6. WT/TPR/S/236/BEN/Rev.1 Trade Policy Review Page 78 Table I.1 Basic economic indicators, 2003-2009 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009a Miscellaneous Population (million) 7.0 7.2 7.4 7.7 8.0 8.2 8.5 In rural areas (% of total population) 60.8 60.3 59.7 59.0 58.2 57.5 56.7 Total public debt (% of GDP) 41.1 39.5 41.3 22.1 14.9 24.0 26.7 Total external debt (% of GDP) 40.3 38.6 40.3 21.0 11.3 14.0 14.8 Debt servicing (% of exports of goods and services) 6.7 3.5 3.8 3.0 2.6 3.3 5.4 Gross official reserves (in import months, goods and 11.1 8.7 11.4 6.5 7.5 7.9 7.2 services) Real GDP (US$ million, at 1999 prices) 3,049.8 3,463.0 3 624.6 3,721.1 4,247.0 4,779.6 4,646.1 GDP at market prices (US$ million) 3,557.2 4,050.9 4,358.0 4,705.1 5,511.9 6,642.4 6,598.9 Sectoral distribution of GDP (Percentage of GDP) Agriculture, livestock, forestry, fishing and hunting 32.1 32.3 32.3 32.4 31.4 32.4 32.4 Agriculture 22.2 22.3 22.3 22.7 21.9 22.8 22.7 Livestock 5.9 6.0 5.8 5.7 5.6 5.5 5.7 Forestry, fishing and hunting 4.0 4.0 4.2 4.0 3.9 4.0 4.0 Industry 13.7 13.3 13.3 13.0 13.0 12.6 13.1 Mining and quarrying 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 Manufacturing 8.3 7.8 7.8 7.5 7.5 7.2 7.6 Electricity, gas and water supply 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.0 1.0 Construction and public works 4.0 4.1 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.2 4.3 Services 44.4 44.2 44.3