Trade in Services for Development (TS4D)
Addressing data gaps in services trade
Reliable and detailed data is a cornerstone of sound services trade policymaking, services negotiations, and the monitoring of trade agreements. However, many developing economies have incomplete, outdated or highly aggregated services trade statistics as well as insufficient information about policies affecting trade in services.
- Addressing data gaps in services trade
- Helping developing economies and LDCs participate more fully in policy discussions on trade in services
- Strengthening regulatory frameworks and institutions
- Promoting economic diversification, particularly through digital services trade
- Addressing key constraints and improving services skills of workers
This can restrict authorities' ability to:
- understand an economy's comparative advantage in services trade
- evaluate the impacts of policy reforms
- participate meaningfully in international negotiations.
The lack of relevant services-specific data can also undermine efforts to design effective development strategies, reduces transparency, and hampers regulatory decisions. Addressing these gaps is essential to enable developing economies to leverage services trade for growth and inclusion.
International cooperation can help to strengthen policy design and support services trade negotiations by addressing deficits in data and the analytical capacity needed for developing economies and least-developed countries to engage in services trade policy formulation and negotiations.
Despite marked improvements in recent years in the availability of services trade data, too few developing economies compile and publish data on bilateral services trade (on a balance of payments basis), the activities of foreign affiliates and investment flows in the services sector. Many developing economies also suffer from a lack of disaggregated data on services trade, on the value of services trade by modes of supply, on digital trade and on domestic services output.
1. Key resources
A) Trade statistics
Services trade statistics on the WTO website have been expanded in recent years to facilitate access to more comprehensive statistics. Available data includes the WTO-UNCTAD dataset on trade in commercial services, the WTO dataset on digitally delivered services, the WTO dataset on trade in services by mode of supply, and the OECD-WTO dataset on bilateral trade in services. These can be accessed through the WTO Services Trade Data Hub.
Other services-related statistics include:
- the OECD database on Trade in Value-Added, which contains indicators for 76 economies from 1995 to 2020 on services value-added content in world trade (https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/trade-in-value-added.html). The UNCTAD-Eora Global Value Chain (GVC) database covers 189 countries from 1990 to 2018 for trade in value added: https://worldmrio.com/unctadgvc/
- the World Bank's World Development Indicators, which contain indicators on the services sector - e.g. its contribution to GDP or total employment https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators
B) Policy data
The WTO-World Bank Services Trade Policy Database (STPD) provides comprehensive information on policies affecting trade in services. The Services Trade Restrictions Index, based on information in the STPD, is available through the I-TIP Services Database: WB-WTO | I-TIP Services
In addition:
- The OECD also offers a Services Trade Restrictions Index and an associated Regulatory Database covering 22 sectors and 51 countries: https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/services-trade-restrictiveness-index.html
- The WTO Trade Monitoring Database provides information on trade measures implemented by WTO members and observers since October 2008. It is based on policy changes captured by the WTO's trade monitoring reports. The database covers policy measures in all sectors but allows users to specifically select services: TMDB Home @ WTO - Open Trade Data Portal
2. Capacity-building activities
The Trade in Services for Development workstreams aim to provide technical assistance and capacity building support to developing economies to help them improve their services trade statistics and policy data.
In addition:
- The WTO has produced a training module on measuring trade in services in collaboration with the Inter-agency Task Force on Statistics of International Trade in Services: Get resource
- UNCTAD, the WTO and the UN Statistics Division have jointly developed the Statistics on International Trade in Services (SITS), an e-learning course with follow-up webinars. The main objectives are to raise awareness of trade in services statistics, enhance statisticians’ ability to do their work, and help statisticians better utilize the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services.
Capacity-building activities and programmes by other international organizations and development banks include:
- UNCTAD's "Primer on data for trade in services and development policies". The publication outlines the services data ecosystem, clarifies which data is available and how to use it, and highlights areas where capacity building is needed.
- support provided by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) over the past five years to the Pacific Alliance to improve the measurement of services trade. For this purpose, many publications have been issued and numerous workshops have been organized
- https://repositorio.cepal.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/f79110eb-a2bd-4ad3-a7a3-9b863ffbb470/content
- https://repositorio.cepal.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/e52594f4-fbfc-445c-8ac4-2211f7704a38/content
- https://repositorio.cepal.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/0e8aff31-6787-4033-b546-e980b7e1c6f3/content
- https://repositorio.cepal.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/760d0a3f-baf1-4d0a-a0ad-e8fc9138f436/content