This paper argues that trade and capital account reforms within autocracies underlie the primacy of foreign currency procurement. A longitudinal comparison of four countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan) in the Middle East and North Africa region shows a historical sequencing of reforms....

Beside its membership (1995) in the World Trade Organization (WTO), Egypt joined Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) such as the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) in 1997, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in 1998, the European-Mediterranean Partnership Agreement...