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BRIBES linked with import and export permits in the
Philippines are rampant, affecting the flow of goods and services,
according to a World Bank report.
“In Indonesia, the Philippines,
Russia, and Thailand, extra payments or bribes connected with import
and export permits are apparently widespread,” the lender said in
a report titled, “ Transparency & Trade Facilitation in the
Asia Pacific: Estimating the Gains from Reform.”
The report noted that in the
Philippines, irregular payments for imports and exports remain and
their size varies substantially. In contrast, bribes appear to be
rare in New Zealand.
The World Bank said most
middle-income Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies
require a number of export or import documents similar to the world
average for this income group. In this regard, the Philippines and
Mexico perform particularly well.
Among the high-income APEC
members Canada achieved the best score, asking for only three export
and four import documents, the report said.
“In many economies, the flow of
goods and services remains hindered by complicated customs
regulations, insufficient use of modern technology in customs, the
lack of handling and transportation infrastructure, or by other
shortcomings,” the report further read.
“Transparency is an important
aspect of trade facilitation, as it is not only the restrictiveness
of at border and behind-the-border policies that matters for
bilateral trade but also the way in which those policies are
designed and administered,” it added.
The World Bank said improving
policy transparency would save about $148 billion, or 7.5 percent of
annual trade between the 21-member countries of the APEC.
John Wilson, co-author of the
report, said that making trade policy more transparent involves
policy reforms in two main areas: predictability and simplification.
“Both types of measures can help reduce the transaction costs
associated with international trade,” he added.
Wilson said possible reforms
include binding tariff rates through the World Trade Organization,
moving toward “flatter” tariff structures, making import and
export delays less variable, lowering uncertainty surrounding
unofficial payments, and reducing favoritism in administrative
decision making. Simplifying trade policy makes it easier, and
therefore less costly, for importers and exporters to identify,
assess, and comply with regulation, he added.
In addition to possible reforms
are streamlining documentary requirements for import/export
transactions, reducing the number of border agencies with which
firms must interact, removing “hidden” trade barriers and
limiting unofficial payments.
APEC trade ministers had agreed
to a plan to cut trade transaction costs between their countries to
5 percent by 2010.
--Darwin G. Amojelar
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