Brussels, 16/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - The 13th joint report on G20 trade measures, published by the WTO, OECD and UNCTAD on 15 June, shows a slight slowdown in the application of new trade-restrictive measures by the G20 economies, with the average number of such measures applied per month being at its lowest level since 2013.
Since mid-October 2014, 119 new trade-restrictive measures have been put in place - in other words, an average of 17 new measures per month. Over this period, the G20 economies also continued to take measures aimed at facilitating trade, taking 112 new measures - in other words, an average of 16 measures per month.
The WTO points out that despite this recent trend, it is not yet clear that this slowdown in the number of measures introduced will continue, and the WTO advocates “continued vigilance and reinforced determination” from the G20 countries in order to remove the existing trade restrictions.
The longer-term trend remains one of concern as the total number of restrictive measures taken by the G20 economies since 2008 continues to grow. Less than a quarter of the 1,360 restrictions adopted by the G20 countries since 2008 have been removed, leaving the total number of restrictive measures still in place at 1,031. Consequently, despite the G20 pledge to refrain from new protectionist measures, the number of these measures has increased by over 7% since the last report published in winter 2014.
Furthermore, the WTO states that the world economic context shows the need for action. According to the latest forecasts in mid-April, growth in world trade in goods is expected to increase from 2.8% in 2014, to 3.3% in 2015, and to 4% in 2016 - but to remain below historical averages.
Government procurement very affected. The OECD's work has enabled the identification of 65 measures implemented by G20 countries since the financial crisis - which suggests that discriminatory government procurement policies have become “increasingly popular” and potentially affect US$423 billion of government procurement in the economies implementing these measures, the report deplores. (Emmanuel Hagry)