The World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Bank recently launched a joint publication that highlighted the rapid expansion of services exports in developing economies, which surpassed the global average growth rate in the past two decades. The publication also emphasized the need for further efforts to fully harness the potential of services trade in promoting development.
“The future of trade is services, digital and green — and it must be inclusive,” WTO Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said. Okonjo-Iweala and World Bank President Ajay Banga unveiled the publication during an online event held on July 3 and through a press release by WTO. “This new publication translates that conviction into a call for action. It documents how services trade has become a key ingredient in our members' growth and development strategies … including by helping countries diversify and expand their export baskets, making them more resilient to external shocks.”
According to a release by the WTO, the recently released publication is titled “Trade in Services for Development,” which explores ways in which developing economies can maximize the advantages offered by services trade to enhance their development prospects. It emphasizes the crucial role of effectiveness access to traded services, encompassing sectors like health, education, finance, transport, and logistics in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Services trade was affected immensely by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is still the main component when it comes to world trade. Services generated two thirds of the world’s GDP and 50% of the world’s workforce in 2021, according to the WTO report.
“The single best way to drive a nail in the coffin of poverty is by giving people a job,” Banga said. “And in today’s world — and in tomorrow’s economy — delivering jobs means a very sharp focus on services. We need to build the tracks for the services train to run on, to run smoothly, quickly and at scale.”