The extent and nature of international, and hence trade policy, has an important bearing on different aspects of poverty - income, risk, access to services and voice. Anecdotal evidence suggests that so far the analysis of trade/poverty links is largely absent in completed PRSPs. Despite this, some of the lending instruments used to support PRSPs (such as the PRS-C, and the PRGF), continue to include conditionality around trade policy reform.

This study is concerned with understanding the extent and depth of trade policy analysis in completed PRSPs, involving some comparison with the guidance contained in the World Bank PRSP Sourcebook Trade chapter and with the lending instruments of the International Financial Institutions listed above and backed by official donors.