文章基本信息

标题：Was the SAFTA (Phase II) Revision Successful? A Case Study of Bangladesh’s RMG Exports to India
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作者：Namra Awais
期刊名称：The Lahore Journal of Economics
印刷版ISSN：1811-5438
电子版ISSN：1811-5446
出版年度：2016
卷号：21
期号：1
页码：151-182
出版社：Lahore School of Economics
摘要：Bangladesh has experienced phenomenal growth in its readymade garments (RMG) sector and become the world's second-largest RMG exporter after China. Given the country's robust position in this context, many observers expected that the SAFTA revisions under Phase II – which allowed Bangladesh's apparel products duty-free and quota-free access to the Indian market – would lead to a surge in Indian imports of apparel and RMGs. However, this did not materialize. This study analyzes Indo–Bangladesh trade in RMGs in order to determine the underlying reasons for this anomaly. Using Balassa's concept of revealed comparative advantage, the study establishes the strong comparative advantage enjoyed by Bangladesh though the results also show a lack of effective trade complementarity between the two countries. Overall, the findings suggest that India enjoys economies of scale in RMG production – as Bangladesh's competitor, India has artificially maintained a secure regime through a combination of domestic export incentives and nontariff measures to restrain imports
关键词：Bangladesh; India; comparative advantage; liberalization; ; RMGs; SAFTA