Brexit : an emerging trade opportunity in Mena

Abstract EN

Following the UK’s exit from the EU, many countries–both in the union and outside–have started to gauge its possible impacts on their economies.

Simply, the EU countries will be affected negatively since they will be required to do some extra paperwork to be able to import from or export to the UK from now on.

On the other hand, non-EU countries have a chance to expand their export to the Kingdom that is looking for improving its trade relations with the countries outside the union.

From this point of view, our aim in this study is to investigate how the Middle Eastern and North African countries could benefit from this transition.

We have made a sectoral analysis covering these countries to find out which sectors are advantageous in exporting to the Kingdom after the Brexit.

It is found that along with the Brexit, automotive sectors in Turkey, Morocco and Tunisia could enhance its export to the Kingdom.

For the textile sector, businesses in Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt are likely to increase their exports.

In the region, another critical industry is electrical machinery and its equipment in which Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Israel, and UAE have an export potential.

When we evaluate all the countries in the region, Turkey seems to have the highest export potential to the UK after the Brexit.