 Developing country experience in trade reformVinod Thomas No 295, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank Abstract: During the 1980's, many developing countries received financial and policy support for trade policy reform. There has been major reform in exchange rate policy, in the reduction of export restrictions, and in removing impediments to the imports of inputs needed by exporters. Import regimes in many countries have been improved by substituting tariffs for quantitative restrictions. The lowering of import protection has been more modest in the face of foreign exchange constraints. Through adjustment lending, the World Bank has supported trade reform in more than 40 countries. Considering this emphasis, one might expect stronger reforms. Four factors that have constrained reform action are: (a) macroeconomic instability; (b) inadequate conviction about the benefits of reform; (c) weak implementation capacity; and (d) conflicts in design. When considering the impact of policy reform on growth performance, the evidence supports the need for continued stronger efforts to reform trade regimes and complementary policies as part of adjustment lending. Keywords: Free Trade; Trade Policy; Environmental Economics&Policies; Economic Stabilization; Economic Theory&Research (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:295 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC. |
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