The Impact of Customs Procedures on Trade Facilitation: Empirical Evidence from Dar es Salaam Port, Tanzania
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59645/abr.v18i2.778Keywords:
Trade facilitation, customs procedures, Dar Es Salaam Port.Abstract
Using Dar es Salaam Port as a case, this research examined the impact of customs procedures on trade facilitation. The research employed both primary and secondary data, in both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Data were collected from systematically sampled 387 international traders and 35 purposively selected key informants. The quantitative data were analysed through SPSS version 26, whereas, content analysis was adopted for qualitative data. The Pearson product-moment correlation test was conducted to establish statistical association between customs procedures and trade facilitation, while, multiple regression model (OLS method) was used to determine the significance of the effect of the customs procedures on trade facilitation. Overall, the study found that customs procedures substantially influence trade facilitation as signified by the explanatory power of the applied model (R2=.733), suggesting that, 73.3% variability in trade facilitation is explained by customs procedures. Specifically, it was found that trade facilitation was significantly influenced negatively by customs procedures in terms of import declaration (r = -0.446, p < 0.05), customs valuation (r = -0.264, p < 0.05), goods inspection (r = -0.313, p < 0.05), payment of customs duties and taxes (r = -0.403, p < 0.05) and customs clearance (r = -0.291, p < 0.05). These findings provide general statistical evidence that customs procedures have a significant influence on trade facilitation. The study infers that, the streamlined, simplified and capably administered customs procedures are “effective enabler” but not a prima facie solution for trade facilitation, whereas, cumbersome procedures are “obvious impediment”. The study recommends effective execution of measures to improve trade facilitation pathways through simplified and digitalised customs procedures and redressing systemic inefficiencies.
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