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Sections News Editorial/Opinion Cover Choice Arts & Life Business Politics Sports   Subscription Form Click here     Daily Independent Online.         * Tuesday, June 22, 2004. ‘Why trade liberalisation gains eluded Africa’ By Ntai Bagshaw Development Reporter, Lagos Low value-added goods and services, particularly when they are not skills and technology-intensive, can reduce the gains from trade, as the experience in sub-Saharan African economies have demonstrated. A new study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) disclosed that although African countries had high expectations of the Doha Round of trade talks, they are still waiting for the results, even after years of opening up their economies. “Many of them have liberalised their trade regimes in anticipation of those gains, and the speed of that liberalisation has often outpaced that of developed countries,” UNCTAD said.   Pointing out that world trade has risen rapidly over the past two decades - by 4.7 per cent in 2003 - the UN body said it is estimated to reach seven per cent this year. “That growth has extended to many developing countries. Most developing nations (especially in Africa), however, can boast only a small part of those gains,” the report added.   Much of the variation in performance, UNCTAD said, can be attributed to the type of trade in which countries are engaging. “High value-added goods and services - particularly when they are skills- and technology-intensive - can increase the gains from trade, as some East Asian economies have so impressively demonstrated.” Some of the biggest gains from trade have been won by countries that have moved into service exports, a move that has also helped them slash poverty, UNCTAD further stated. “Services now account for about 50 per cent of GDP in developing countries as a whole (versus 68 per cent in the developed world), and trade in services represents 16 per cent of all their trade and 23 per cent of their share of global services exports,” the report said, stressing that services now generate about half of all jobs in the formal sector.    Africa accounts for an infinitesimal percentage of services exports, far outweighed by its imports. They are net importers of services, it said. One way to narrow this gap, UNCTAD pointed out, is to export more services, “and here comparative advantage lies clearly in labour-intensive services, mostly through the temporary movement of natural persons.”       Copyright� 2002. All Rights Reserved Independent Newspapers Limited Block5, Plot 7D, Wempco Road, Ogba, P.M.B. 21777, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. www.dailyindependentng.com e-mail: [email protected]

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