Project 16: Perceptions of risks and vulnerabilities

Can Trade Facilitation Policies Mitigate Food Crises? A Case Study of Jordan

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a country characterized by high water stress, vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, and landlocked except for a narrow passage through the Gulf of Aqaba. Trade facilitation policy mechanisms therefore play an indispensable role in safeguarding food security for Jordan especially as it faces critical regional and global challenges. Non facilitative measures, such as some non-tariff measures, coupled with specific risks, can impact the fundamental facets of food security negatively by escalating the cost of imported commodities and constraining consumers’ purchasing power.

Even though trade facilitation in Jordan has been performing exceptionally well since 2017 compared to other West Asian and middle-income countries, field research shows that there is still room for enhancement which may have a positive impact on food security. Hence, this project aims to examine the negative synergies between non-facilitated trade and polyrisks on one side, and its effect on food security in Jordan, on the other.

This project reaps the benefit of mixed methods and integrates different quantitative and qualitative data to reach its objective. Qualitative tools are first deployed to identify the main obstacles hindering agriculture trade in Jordan. Then later, a computable general equilibrium model will be used to quantify the effects of removing these non-tariff barriers on Jordan’s food system resilience and its economy wide implications.

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