Globalisation in West Africa

Kate Meagher writes on the need to incorporate and formalise informal networks "...Although West African cross-border networks have facilitated global trade and private wealth accumulation, they have tended to undermine regional manufacturing, financial stability, and infrastructural investment. Thus instead of integrating West Africa into the global economy, in many respects cross-border trade has reinforced West Africa’s global economic marginalisaton. Policy-makers are left with two choices: cross-border trade can be suppressed and criminalised, or it can be brought into the formal economy.
For West African development, criminalisation is not the best option. For all it faults, cross-border trade remains the most efficient, organised and deep-rooted system of trade in the sub-region. The commercial skills, experience and organisational infrastructure of cross-border networks represent invaluable resources for the development of effective West African trade. What is needed is the incorporation of cross-border trade into the formal economy through more appropriate policy incentives to guide and redirect its activities..."