Infrastructure Services Liberalization in Developing Countries: Key to Growth and Global Competitiveness Office of the U.S. Trade Representative The international.

Infrastructure Services Liberalization in Developing Countries:

Key to Growth and Global Competitiveness

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

“The international competitiveness of traditional sectors of developing

economies is heavily dependent on access to services at world prices. The best

guarantee that services will be supplied at world prices is to open an economy to the

pressures and opportunities of international competition or trade and

investment liberalization.”

UNCTAD, Study Series No. 19

Logistics Infrastructure Services: Distribution and Express Delivery

Services

October 24, 2006

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Importance of infrastructure services

As services play an increasingly larger role in growth of developing country economies, liberalization of “infrastructure services” becomes paramount.

Infrastructure services are the building blocks of commercial activity and everyday life, including financing and insuring transactions, communicating by phone, fax, and Internet, providing computer networks, supporting exploration and generation of energy, and ordering and delivering a product or service.

Logistics is a particularly useful example of an infrastructural service.

Developing countries that maintain barriers to infrastructure services are blocking their own economic growth and global competitiveness.

Key to real growth and competitiveness is market opening and binding market openness.

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Services: The backbone of developing country economies

Services

52%Industry

25%

Agriculture

23%

10%

World Bank World Development Report, 2006

Sector Share of GDP 2004

Low-income countries

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

World Low-Income Countries

GDP

Services

GDP and Services Average Annual Growth Rates, 1990-2004

4

Services generate more FDI and new jobs in developing countries

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Primary Manufacturing Services

UNCTAD, World Investment Report, 2006

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

East Asia SE Asia/Pacific Lat Am/Carib Sub-SaharanAfrica

1995

2005

Share of total developing country employment in services

FDI stock in developing countries, 2004(Billion U.S. Dollars)

ILO, Global Employment Trends Brief 2006

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Problem: Developing countries tend to maintain more restrictions on foreign services than developed countries

Average restrictiveness score in services trade

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

The index scores are the average restrictiveness scores for banking, distribution, maritime, professions and telecommunications. Adapted from McGuire, 2002.

6

Restrictions in developing countries prevent them from gaining dynamic benefits from liberalized trade

Increased investment Technology transfer Enhanced competition Innovation Economies of scale

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Logistics a critical infrastructure service

International trade facilitated by freight logistics services providing efficient integrated management of point-to-point supply and distribution chains.

The availability of competitive logistics services, namely on a global basis, will enhance overall economic efficiency and competitiveness.

This is particularly the case for developing countries, for which freight costs can be up to 40% of total export value (World Bank, 2004).

Developing countries have significant interests in export of goods ranging from agricultural products to industrial goods, and which could benefit from timely, reliable and efficient supply chain, distribution and inventory management for their exports.

Barriers are particularly a problem in infrastructure services like logistics. Useful to look at two aspects of logistics: distribution and express delivery.

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Distribution Services

Virtually every good or commodity makes its way to the market through

distributors. Wholesalers, retailers, commissioned agents and franchisers provide

the domestic infrastructure for moving goods to consumers.

The value added in the distribution stages can greatly exceed the value added in

production; for example, the value created in distribution accounts for 70% of total

value for textiles and over 75% for food products (UNCTAD).

Frequent barriers include limitations on the purchase of real estate, restrictions on

equity holdings, exclusions of products or services due to state monopolies or

national interest, nationality quotas, and residency requirements

Excess profits enjoyed by uncompetitive distribution firms come at the expense of

consumers and producers.

Delays for imports and exports not only reduce trade volumes, but also reduce the

probability that firms will even enter export markets for time-sensitive products.

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Benefits of liberalization

Distributors manage inventories efficiently, minimize spoilage

and waste

Producers assume lower risk

Consumers pay less, have greater choice.

Liberalization, trade facilitation reform, and domestic regulatory

reforms in distribution can be implemented at relatively low cost

in low-income countries. The gains from these reforms can be

substantial.

Distribution Services

10

Case study: Lithuania

Lithuania’s first law on trade, introducing the notion of retail trade and wholesale and provisions on competition, adopted in 1995.

By 2003 wholesale and retail trade had become the third most important sector in the economy, accounting for 17% of all FDI flows.

Over the last four years, five domestic chains have emerged as the key players in the distribution sector, accounting for 70 per cent of food retail sales.

The leading national chain in food and consumer-care products has expanded into regional markets.

UNCTAD, Distribution Services, 2005

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Express Delivery

Helps improve competitiveness of all aspects of companies’ operations,

including sales, production, customer support, and logistics and storage.

Directly employs 1.25 million people in 200 countries—more than the

petroleum refinery industry—and indirectly supports another 2.65 million

jobs.

Growth is twice that of the global economy; jobs expected to grow to 2.1

million by 2013, with a majority in developing and transition economies.

The express delivery integrators are a vital link in creating a globally

competitive logistics environment.

Common market access barriers include exclusion of competition to

government-owned or sanctioned provider, preferential treatment, arbitrary

licensing requirements, and restrictions on foreign investment.

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Benefits of liberalization

Express services particularly important for geographically remote countries or where domestic transport infrastructure is poor. Liberalized express delivery offers secure services that can leap over entrenched inefficiencies of mail delivery, transportation, and logistics in many developing countries.

Express delivery reduces need for warehousing. Developing countries could reduce the unit cost of production by as much as 20 per cent by reducing inventory holdings by half (Gaush and Kogan, 2001).

A liberalized express delivery industry in China would result in estimated increases of US$3 billion in investment, US$85 billion in output, and 800,000 new jobs over five years. (U.S.-China Business Council).

Express Delivery Services

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Once they liberalize, why should developing countries bind their commitments?

GATS commitments to investors are like money-back guarantees for consumers: – provide assurances that increase confidence– an important factor in differentiating options over

where to invest Overall business environment more

important than specific costs, e.g. labor. Anchors reform in a international legal

framework, and provides momentum

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Myths blocking liberalization

Services liberalization is not de facto “deregulation”: Liberalization means

removing requirements that discriminate against foreign service suppliers and

providing transparent regulation. It is consistent with maintaining the right to

regulate and promotes good governance. It also creates an attractive business

and investment climate

Services liberalization should be viewed as part of the solution to

economic dislocation rather than a cause of dislocation: Developing

country transition from subsistence farming and agriculture to greater reliance

on services and manufacturing is essential to produce real increase in living

standards. Overall GDP and employment growth from services liberalization is

key to enabling this transition to occur and to create new jobs and opportunities

for those who suffer economic dislocation.

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Moving to the head of the line

Pattern is clear: developing economies opening up services sectors are moving to the head of the line in global logistics competitiveness

– Attracting investment– Attracting barrier-breaking technology– Lowering costs and risks– Increasing availability and choice– Stimulating activity in related sectors

Making binding commitments in logistics and other infrastructure services will further enhance this competitiveness.

Certainty of commitments helps keep costs predictable, which is especially important in logistics.