Publication: Trade Policies in South Asia : An Overview, Volume 1. Operational Summary
Date
2004-09-07
ISSN
Published
2004-09-07
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
During the last decade, South
Asia's five largest countries - India, Pakistan, Sri
Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal - have been implementing trade
policy reforms, gradually moving their economies away from
protectionism toward greater trade openness and global
economic integration. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the
four mainland countries began to follow the liberalizing
course on which Sri Lanka had embarked in the late 1970s.
Each country faces differing opportunities to exploit and
resistances to overcome. Because many of their circumstances
and choices are similar, however, this paper seeks to assess
their situations collectively as well as separately. Many of
its findings are broadly applicable. So, with allowances for
historic, economic and social differences, are many of its
policy recommendations. The bulk of the report describes key
aspects of the current trade regimes in the Jive largest
South Asian states and the policies and practices that have
produced the systems now in place. It principally focuses on
traditional trade policies which affect imports and exports
i.e. tariffs, non-tariff barriers, anti-dumping, export
policies, and to a limited extent aspects of sanitary and
technical regulations that affect trade. All of these are
still major issues of concern and debate in South Asia. The
report does not attempt to describe where the South Asian
countries stand on newer trade policy issues which are
prominent in World Trade Organization negotiations, such as
trade in services, intellectual property, government
procurement and Customs valuation. The report also does not
attempt to place the South Asian countries' trade
policies in the context of their trade and other aspects of
their economic performance. Its purpose is rather to provide
up-to-date information about, and interpretations of, the
current trade policies it covers, with the idea that this
should provide starting points for further applied economic
research on useful and relevant topics, as well as points of
reference and factual information for discussion and debate.
Nevertheless, the report does assess, on theoretical and
empirical grounds, the appropriateness of the policies
described. Conclusions and suggestions for change are
generally summarized at the end of each stocktaking section.
This summary, in condensing the work of stocktaking,
highlights the key issues that all or most of the countries
have addressed and need to pursue further. To reinforce the
operational nature of those findings, the summary deals with
the recommendations next, as an immediate continuation of
the central policy questions. It then reviews trade policies
in three key sectors- agriculture, fertilizers, and textiles
and clothing.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2004. Trade Policies in South Asia : An Overview, Volume 1. Operational Summary. © Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14379 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”