World Bank indicts developed countries

WASHINGTON, DEC. 5. Developed countries adopt unfair, outrageous tactics to keep the exports of developing countries down while boosting their own to the developing countries and among themselves under one-sided international trade rules, the World Bank has pointed out in its annual report on ``global economic prospects,''.

The subject has been alluded to in previous reports, but, this year, the stark contrast between word and deed and the blatant double standards are highlighted by focusing on the practices of the ``quad'' countries (the United States, the European union, Japan and Canada).

The Bank said the quad countries' tariffs for trade among themselves ranges from 4.3 per cent in Japan to 8.3 per cent in Canada but their tariffs to keep out developing country exports are in some cases as high 550 per cent.

``In the quad, only 1.2 per cent of tariff lines are subject to NTB (non-tariff barriers). However, most of the NTBs are found in agriculture (tariff quotas, for example) and textiles and clothing (Multifibre arrangement), where developing countries have a comparative advantage,'' the report said. Products with high tariffs in quad countries include agricultural staple food products, such as meat, sugar, milk, dairy products and chocolate, where tariff rates frequently exceed 100 percent; tobacco and some alcoholic beverages; fruit and vegetables and textiles, clothing and footwear. These are the sectors in which the developing countries have a competitive and comparative advantage, the Bank said.

In the United States, 311 of 500 tariff lines were above 15 per cent. Yet 15 per cent of exports from least developed countries to the U.S. face these tariffs, the Bank said. Some of the highest tariffs in industrial countries, are applied to products that are exported by the developing countries. For example, almost 26 billion dollars of exports from developing countries in 1999 to the world were the products that would have faced triffs above 50 per cent in the quad countries. Only about 5 million dollars of that sum was exported to the quad countries. On the other hand, the quad countries exported about 50 billion dollars of the same goods, most of it from other industrial countries.

- PTI

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