Executive Summary

Trade is an important component of economic activity in Africa, equivalent to around 50 percent of the continent’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to the World Bank. The four largest economies of the Economic Community of West African States, namely Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal—which we refer to as the ECOWAS4—traded $208 billion in goods and services during 2021, representing between 25 percent and 63 percent of GDP.