Development and building trade capacity

Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa with a GDP in excess of US$ 500 billion dependent on oil and gas exports for the bulk of government revenues as well as foreign exchange. Its growth – which averaged about 7 per cent in the decade between 2005 and 2014 – has in recent years been driven by the non-oil sectors: services agriculture and manufacturing. The principal challenge for the President Buhari administration which took office in May 2015 is to build on this trend by diversifying export income and the sources of government revenues as well as kickstarting the long-overdue task of industrializing the Nigerian economy. One of the goals of this approach is to achieve robust stable and predictable growth free from short-to-medium-term cycles of boom and bust.

There are different ways to analyze the global economy. One is to view it through the lens of growth and structural change in individual economies developed and developing. A second is to use the lens of global value chains (GVCs) the complex network structure of flows of goods services capital and technology across national borders. Both are useful and they are complementary to one another.

E-commerce is growing rapidly in Argentina and Brazil and in both countries the share of the population participating in e-commerce transactions exceeds the Latin American average. Both countries have established a legal framework for data protection regulation of the internet consumer protection taxation of e-commerce and contracts and e-signatures. Argentina and Brazil also have submitted proposals for negotiations over the treatment of e-commerce transactions in WTO Agreements and included e-commerce provisions in free trade agreements (FTAs). However different approaches to internal regulation of e-commerce and differences in positions in international negotiations indicate diverging regulatory approaches that will increase legal uncertainty and thus constrain investments and market expansion in the sector. An exception is the regulation of data protection where both countries are following principles laid out in the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Further negotiations between the two countries over regulatory convergence for e-commerce could best be undertaken through the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR).

Indonesia has been regarded as one of the success stories of developing countries escaping the resource curse (Rosser 2004; 2007). In many developing countries instead of becoming a source of economic growth abundant natural resources have been associated with stagnant growth a condition known as the resource curse or the paradox of plenty. As argued by Sachs and Warner (1997) economies with abundant natural resources have tended to grow less rapidly than those with scarce natural resources. Similarly the resource curse has been defined as “the phenomenon whereby a country with an export-driven natural resources sector generating large revenues for government leads paradoxically to economic stagnation and political instability” (ODI 2006). This chapter will review the efforts undertaken by Indonesia to diminish its dependency on natural resources and to better connect to global value chains (GVCs).

This section describes the increased synchronization and spread of macroeconomic shocks in the last few years after what appeared to be a general moderation of volatility. It examines the role of global value chains in the transmission of macroeconomic shocks and looks at how export structures influence volatility. It describes how the economic crisis spread from developed to developing countries and how a coordinated response helped to limit the use of protectionist measures in the wake of the crisis. Despite suffering the greatest economic downturn since the 1930s the world did not see a widespread resort to protectionism. Among other explanations for this was the existence of a set of multilateral trade rules.

Over the past decades trade flows have become increasingly global. Today South- South trade represents around one-half of global trade and the top ranks of major traders are not exclusively occupied by industrialized countries (OECD 2010). Trade now spans all major world regions and continues to grow within and across those regions. Trade also takes new forms as trade in goods is increasingly accompanied by trade in tasks. Capital flows more freely across regions and trade and capital flows together have contributed to an increased transfer of technological change across regions. There is a strong sense that companies and countries well integrated in these global networks are part of a virtuous circle involving technological progress and growth. Not being connected however can represent a very serious bottleneck for future growth and economic development.

Un objetivo fundamental de la OMC es promover el desarrollo económico mediante una participación efectiva en el comercio mundial. En lo que respecta a la cuestión de cómo pueden los países en desarrollo derivar mayores beneficios de su participación en el sistema de comercio tienen pertinencia tres aspectos de la estructura y las normas de la OMC. En primer lugar las normas propiamente dichas junto con las excepciones e interpretaciones permitidas constituyen los cimientos del sistema y desempeñan una función clave en la determinación de las condiciones y oportunidades de comercio. En segundo lugar se plantea la cuestión del alcance del sistema. No hay ningún tema que la OMC haya considerado y luego descartado de modo que esto se refiere a la inclusión de nuevos asuntos. En tercer lugar las medidas de protección aplicadas a las exportaciones de un país también contribuyen considerablemente a definir las condiciones y oportunidades de comercio. En síntesis la índole de las normas de la OMC el alcance de esas normas y las condiciones del acceso a los mercados son las tres cuestiones principales que determinan la calidad y utilidad de la OMC para sus Miembros. Por lo tanto no debe sorprender que cada uno de estos tres elementos figure de manera destacada en el Programa de Doha para el Desarrollo.

More than two-thirds of world trade occurs through global value chains (GVCs) in which production crosses at least one border and typically many borders before final assembly. The phenomenal growth in GVC-related trade has translated into significant economic growth in many countries across the globe over the last two decades fueled by reductions in transportation and communication costs and declining trade barriers. But at the same time it has contributed to distributional effects that mean that the benefits of trade have not always accrued to all which has at least in part been a driver in the backlash against globalization and the rise of protectionism and threats to global and regional trade agreements. In addition new technological developments such as robotics big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) are beginning to reshape and further transform GVCs. This second GVC development report takes stock of the recent evolution of GVC trade in light of these developments.

La présente étude s’intéresse à la situation actuelle du commerce électronique à Maurice ainsi qu’aux défis et aux possibilités qu’il présente. En 2017 la part de la population qui réalisait des achats en ligne était de 14% le deuxième taux le plus élevé en Afrique (derrière la Libye) ce qui découlait en grande partie de l’augmentation de l’utilisation et de la pénétration d’Internet associée à l’utilisation accrue des cartes de crédit et au développement de systèmes de paiement en ligne sécurisés. En outre dans l’Indice du commerce électronique B2C de la CNUCED (état de préparation électronique) Maurice était classé au premier rang des pays du continent africain. Une enquête menée auprès des consommateurs a révélé que le niveau de satisfaction concernant les achats en ligne était élevé en raison d’un choix plus vaste de la possibilité de gagner du temps de l’accessibilité et la relative facilité de recherche de produits en ligne. Les principales préoccupations comprenaient le fait de ne pas être à l’aise avec la divulgation de renseignements personnels et la possibilité limitée de contacter les vendeurs. Les personnes interrogées qui n’avaient jamais effectué d’achats en ligne ont évoqué des préoccupations liées à la navigation en ligne à la sécurité des paiements et aux coûts élevés. Les vendeurs en ligne se sont montrés très optimistes quant à la croissance future du marché mais ils étaient également préoccupés par la préférence locale pour des sites Web internationaux par les limitations techniques du service Internet et par la petite taille du marché. Les entretiens avec des décideurs ont fait état d’un cadre juridique et réglementaire solide soutenant les paiements électroniques mais ont décrit le besoin d’une coopération réglementaire plus forte avec d’autres pays en matière de commerce électronique et d’un travail plus important de collecte de statistiques. Pour ce faire une assistance technique serait utile.