The Impact of Trade and Exchange‐rate Policy Reforms on North African Manufactured Exports

Three indicators capture the impact of exchange‐rate policy in fostering manufactured exports from North Africa: changes in the real effective exchange rate (REER), its volatility, and its misalignment. The impact of trade policy is examined using a trade liberalisation indicator. Export supply equations are estimated for three manufacturing industries: textiles, chemicals, and food. The results suggest that trade and exchange‐rate policies matter for export performance, as is evidenced by the negative influence exerted independently by real exchange‐rate misalignment and volatility and by the positive influence of trade liberalisation.