A Ph.D. candidate at the University of Nairobi has been selected as the winner of a global contest organised by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The global body announced Majune Kraido Socrates as the winner of the 2020 Trade Economist Thematic Award, a new competition for specific research, which focused on how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected trade and trade policy.
"I am deeply humbled and honoured to be the first recipient of this award. My study analysed the effect of lockdown policies on imports and exports," the scholar stated.
The selection committee which comprised of the WTO Director of Economic Research and Statistics Division (ERSD), Robert Koopman, Roberta Piermartini and Maarten Smeets, praised his research paper and awarded his Ksh630,077 (5,000 Swiss Franc).
In his paper, Majune, who is also a Tutorial Fellow at the UoN School of Economics, found that the introduction of lockdown measures by trading partners led to an average increase of weekly exports by 12 percent and an average decline of imports by 28 percent.
"The decline in imports was mainly caused by the disruption of imports by sea from countries that introduced lockdown measures. However, for the import and export of food commodities, a notable increase was recorded of 18 percent and 25 percent respectively.
"This showed how demand for food commodities sustained Kenya's exports. Overall, Kenyan exports to countries that had more stringent public health policy responses were significantly lower while imports from these countries were significantly higher," he observed.
The scholar noted that demand factors could be more important that supply chain disruptions in explaining the responses of trade to Covid-19 in developing countries.
"It appears that export trade was only marginally affected, potentially because food commodities, which are major export categories in countries like Kenya, are not sensitive to lockdowns due to demand remaining constant," he explained.
Majune further elucidated that the significant fall of non-food imports pointed to a decline in demand for non-essential imports in the face of a looming health and economic crisis that introduces significant uncertainties.
Kenya like many countries experienced a drop in trade with the implementation of Covid-19 protocols. A rise in exports and imports was later witnessed when the restrictions were scaled down.
Here is a video of Majune Kraido Socrates giving his acceptance speech:
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