Harnessing trade facilitation to the service of development. Evdokia Moise OECD Trade Directorate

Transcription

1 Harnessing trade facilitation to the service of development Evdokia Moise OECD Trade Directorate 1

2 OECD work in support of WTO negotiations on trade facilitation Documenting country approaches to transparency and simplification of border procedures Understanding the costs and benefits of trade facilitation particularly for developing countries Assessing and documenting the benefits of trade facilitation measures Identifying the costs of introducing and implementing trade facilitation measures 2

3 Assessing the benefits of trade facilitation Trade transaction costs (TTCs): Direct (e.g. administrative compliance costs); Indirect (e.g. delays in border clearance). Variations in TTCs: Country-specific differences (e.g. border process quality); Sector-specific diversity (e.g. special procedures for agro-food products); Trader-specific diversity (e.g. size of firms international trade activities). 3

4 Scenario results on income effects of trade facilitation (million USD and per cent of total) Uniformity Country diversity Country & sector diversity Country, sector & trader diversity OECDonly World-wide income gains due to direct cost reduction due to indirect cost reduction OECD 69% 37% 37% 35% 103% OECD Asia-Pacific 8% 7% 7% 7% 22% OECD Europe 43% 17% 17% 17% 45% OECD North America 18% 13% 12% 11% 36% Non-OECD 31% 63% 63% 65% -3% Former Soviet Union 2% 7% 7% 7% -1% Middle East & North Africa 5% 11% 11% 11% 0% Latin America & Caribbean 5% 13% 13% 13% -1% Non-OECD Asia-Pacific 16% 24% 24% 24% -1% Sub-saharan Africa 2% 7% 7% 7% 0% Rest of World 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% Source: OECD Secretariat. 4

5 Scenario results on income effects of a one per cent reduction in trade transactions costs (Per cent of gross domestic product) Uniformity Country diversity Country & sector diversity Country, sector & trader diversity OECDonly World-wide income gains 0.13% 0.14% 0.15% 0.15% 0.05% - due to direct cost reduction 0.02% 0.03% 0.03% 0.03% 0.01% - due to indirect cost reduction 0.11% 0.12% 0.12% 0.12% 0.04% OECD 0.12% 0.07% 0.07% 0.07% 0.06% OECD Asia-Pacific 0.06% 0.06% 0.06% 0.06% 0.06% OECD Europe 0.19% 0.08% 0.08% 0.08% 0.07% OECD North America 0.08% 0.06% 0.06% 0.06% 0.06% Non-OECD 0.20% 0.44% 0.44% 0.47% -0.01% Former Soviet Union 0.14% 0.48% 0.49% 0.51% -0.02% Middle East & North Africa 0.27% 0.64% 0.64% 0.67% 0.00% Latin America & Caribbean 0.12% 0.33% 0.34% 0.36% -0.01% Non-OECD Asia-Pacific 0.25% 0.40% 0.40% 0.42% 0.00% Sub-saharan Africa 0.18% 0.85% 0.88% 0.92% -0.02% Rest of World 0.13% 0.21% 0.21% 0.22% 0.00% Source: OECD Secretariat. 5

6 Documenting the benefits of trade facilitation Overview of customs reforms undertaken in a number of developing countries What are the key problems that reforms have aimed to overcome? What are the approaches adopted for addressing the problems? What are the results produced by the reforms? 6

7 Enhanced collection efficiency Increased customs revenue 335% in Peru over 10 years 188% in Mozambique over 3 years 217% in Angola over 2 years Increased staff productivity 636% increase in the collection-to-staff ratio in Peru over 10 years Cost-to-collection ratios akin to OECD benchmarks Between 1.86% and 3.42% of total revenue collected in Mozambique against an OECD average of 1.5% to 2.5% 7

8 Reduced clearance times and transaction costs Peru: risk-based controls brought physical inspection rates from % down to 15% and average clearance time from 2 days down to 2 hours Singapore: a single online form for trade documentation on a system operating 24 hours/day reduced processing costs by 20% and handling costs by 25%-35% Chile: risk-based controls reduced physical inspection by 5-12 %, resulting in direct cost savings for the private sector of more than US$1 million per month 8

9 Identifying the factors of success Sustainability depends on Proper diagnostics (tailor-made reforms reflecting particular circumstances and needs) Coherence between selected measures and avoidance of piecemeal approaches Sense of ownership by both public and private players 9

10 Measuring the costs of introducing and implementing trade facilitation Main observations Need to factor in linkages between measures that cannot be implemented in isolation issue of coherence Problems with assessing the measures effectiveness need for performance indicators Identifying how and by whom costs are borne political momentum and co-operation within the government; technical assistance Importance of the time factor costs and benefits need to be assessed on a comparable time scale 10

11 Main findings on implementation costs Trade facilitation seen as part of larger efficiency-enhancing endeavours; Generally no specific budget; resources absorbed in normal costs of operation; Starting point is critical but even less advanced countries were able to achieve improvement; Some measures are prerequisites for others; Costs mainly incurred for risk assessment, audit-based controls and special procedures;.. but generally offset by staff savings and revenue collection improvements. 11

12 And for more on the subject Business Benefits of Trade Facilitation Transparency and Simplification Approaches to Border Procedures: Reflection on the Implementation of GATT Article X-Related Proposals in Selected Countries Reflection on the Implementation of GATT Article VIII-Related Proposals in Selected Countries Reflection on the Implementation of GATT Article V-Related Proposals in Selected Countries Trade Facilitation Principles in GATT Articles V, VIII and X: Reflections on Possible Implementation Approaches Trade facilitation reforms in the service of development Quantitative Assessment of the Benefits of Trade Facilitation The Costs of Introducing and Implementing Trade Facilitation Measures: An Interim Report (forthcoming) Above OECD reports are available at under Trade Facilitation/publications 12