2018-OECD-促进贸易便利化对发展中国家的潜在影响-97页_1mb

Trade Facilitation Indicators: The Potential Impact of Trade Facilitation on Developing Countries' Trade

Core Content

This report by the OECD presents the findings of an analysis on Trade Facilitation Indicators (TFIs), which assess the economic and trade impact of specific trade facilitation measures on 107 non-OECD countries. The study aims to help governments prioritize trade facilitation actions, improve technical assistance, and support the ongoing WTO negotiations on trade facilitation.

Main Policy Areas and Indicators

The report identifies 16 trade facilitation indicators, corresponding to the main policy areas under negotiation at the WTO, and includes 97 variables. These indicators are grouped into the following categories:

• Information availability [Art.1+2]
• Involvement of the trade community [Art.2]
• Advance rulings [Art.3]
• Appeal procedures [Art.4]
• Fees and charges [Art.6]
• Formalities - Documents [Art.7+10]
• Formalities - Automation [Art.7+10]
• Formalities - Procedures [Art.5+7+10]
• Cooperation - Internal [Art.9§1 and 2]
• Cooperation - External [Art.9§3+12]
• Consularization [Art.8]
• Governance and Impartiality
• Transit fees and charges [Art.11]
• Transit formalities [Art.11]
• Transit guarantees [Art.11]
• Transit agreements and cooperation [Art.11]

These indicators are designed to capture the effectiveness of trade facilitation measures in reducing trade costs and increasing trade flows, with a special focus on developing countries.

Key Findings

Trade Facilitation and Trade Flows

• Trade facilitation measures have a positive impact on trade flows.
• The most significant indicators for increasing trade flows are:
  • Information availability
  • Harmonisation and simplification of documents
  • Automated processes
  • Streamlining of procedures
  • Good governance and impartiality

Trade Facilitation and Trade Costs

• The combined effect of trade facilitation improvements can reduce total trade costs by:
  • 14.5% for low-income countries
  • 15.5% for lower-middle-income countries
  • 13.2% for upper-middle-income countries
• Harmonisation and simplification of documents is the most impactful for low-income countries and Sub-Saharan African nations.
• Streamlining of procedures is the strongest factor for lower-middle and upper-middle-income countries, as well as for Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.
• Automated processes and risk management are key contributors to cost reduction for low-income countries.
• Good governance and impartiality has a high impact on trade flows when applied to lower and upper-middle-income countries.

Sector-Specific Impacts

• The indicators are more significant for manufactured goods than for agricultural goods.
• For agricultural goods, the impact is less consistent, possibly due to limited data availability on agricultural-specific variables.
• For lower and upper-middle-income countries, the following indicators are positive and significant in the agricultural sector:
  • Information availability
  • Advance rulings
  • Formalities - documents
  • Formalities - automation
  • Formalities - procedures
  • Governance and impartiality

Bilateral Trade Analysis

• The gravity model is used to estimate the impact of TFIs on bilateral trade flows.
• The model accounts for:
  • Trade costs as a geometric average
  • The direction of trade (i.e., from country A to B vs. B to A)
  • The importance of trade facilitation measures on both importer and exporter sides
• Simultaneous actions by both trading partners are found to be important for bilateral trade, as indicated by the geometric average of individual country indicators.

Country Groupings

• Countries are grouped based on:
  • Income levels: 21 low-income, 32 lower-middle-income, 39 upper-middle-income, 15 high-income
  • Geographic regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Central Asia
  • Economic partnerships: APEC, ECOWAS
  • Transit and landlocked countries

Data and Methodology

• The dataset includes publicly available data from customs websites, official publications, and databases.
• Data was collected for nearly all WTO members and observers not included in the previous OECD study.
• Transit-specific indicators were developed for the second phase of the study, with data collected through questionnaires and surveys.
• The analysis uses gravity regressions to assess the impact of TFIs on trade flows and trade costs.

Conclusion

The report emphasizes that trade facilitation reforms should be approached comprehensively, as the combined effect of improvements is greater than the sum of individual measures. It also highlights the importance of good governance, automation, and document simplification in reducing trade costs and enhancing trade flows for developing countries. The findings support the need for targeted technical assistance and capacity building to improve trade facilitation performance, especially in landlocked and transit countries.

Key Takeaways

• Trade facilitation measures significantly reduce trade costs and increase trade flows.
• The most impactful areas are information availability, document simplification, automation, procedures streamlining, and good governance.
• Sectoral differences exist, with manufactured goods showing more consistent results than agricultural goods.
• Bilateral trade is influenced by both the importer and exporter trade facilitation performance.
• Country-specific data and groupings are essential for understanding the relative impact of trade facilitation measures.