Singapore’s Success of Freeports in Growing Local Manufacturing and Economies can be Replicated in West Africa 

Several World Bank reports allude to the data challenges and the poor performance of African freezones compared to Asia, eastern Europe and to a lesser extent Latin America due to implementation challenges. The concept of a freeport – an area where normal tax and customs rules don’t apply – has existed for centuries. Over time, different terms have emerged. They include export processing zones, free trade zones, special economic zones and industrial free zones. West Africa has 29 free zones, spanning 11 countries.
 

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