Members of APEC, the bloc linking the economies of Asia and the Americas in the Pacific Ocean, are applying trade barriers, the Policy Support Unit said.
According to the report released on Thursday (10.08.2023), trade among APEC members recovered to $4,9 trillion in 2022, less than the $5,4 trillion estimated for 2022 "had there been no pandemic."
The finding was included in its report Monitoring Pandemic Recovery under the APEC Services Competitiveness Roadmap (ASCR).
According to the Policy Support Unit, recently introduced trade restrictions are affecting the entry of foreigners, the movement of people, competition, and creating momentum for other discriminatory measures.
“There are many factors that affect trade in services. But government policies are a critical factor, as they affect various service sectors differently,” said Andre Wirjo, an analyst at the Policy Support Unit.
“Three years after the start of the pandemic, while we see member economies beginning to reverse temporary measures implemented during COVID-19, we are also seeing more unrelated trade restrictions being introduced,” he added.
The Policy Support Unit said key restrictions vary by industry and could pose barriers to competition and regulatory transparency.
“While some restrictions may have been enacted for legitimate policy objectives, economies may wish to explore how these objectives can be achieved without having an unintended impact on trade, considering the interlinkages between policy measures,” Wirjo said.
The report indicates that travel-related trade, despite reaching $700 billion in 2022, only accounted for about 50% of both the value in 2019 and the projected value in 2022.
“After falling by 81 percent between 2019 and 2020, the number of international tourist arrivals in APEC economies registered a further decline of 16,4 percent between 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19-related border measures as many economies took longer to reopen,” the Policy Support Unit said.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum seeks to develop the economies of 21 countries and territories in Asia and America bordering the Pacific Ocean.
The economies that make up APEC are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
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