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PurposeThis study investigates the impact of trade integration on payment choice in international transactions using data from Turkey, an emerging economy that signed many trade agreements in the last two decades.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use industry-level trade finance data from Turkey, which reports payment methods in exports at two-digit ISIC level for 180 export destinations. The authors performed linear as well as maximum likelihood techniques to test our hypothesis.FindingsThe authors show that the removal of trade barriers by bilateral free trade agreements leads to more exporter-financed transactions. This implies that lowering trade barriers contributes to reducing risk, which leads to more trade finance by exporters.Originality/valueTrade finance is the lifeblood of global trade. Although the previous literature have analyzed the institutional and financial factors affecting exporters' decision to extend trade credit, the effect of economic integration has been overlooked. In this regard, this study represents the first attempt to analyze the impact of trade integration on trade finance.

India opened up her domestic market to global competition in early 1990s, however, it was in the early 2000s that the trade dynamics gained momentum with India actively entering into free-trade agreements, both regionally and bilaterally. The period between 2000–2001 and 2017–2018 witnessed a surge in imports from $50 billion to $384 billion, respectively. One of the fallouts of import liberalisation policy was internationalization of the production process. Import intensity of exports based on input–output tables for various years till 2013–2014 reveals that rise in imported inputs in the export sector did not have a positive impact on exports. Second, the impact of these imported inputs led to a rise in the demand for skilled labour than the abundant less skilled labour that India possesses. In future trade negotiations, the heterogeneity of Indian industry should be an important consideration while negotiating trade deals to enable greater imports of intermediate inputs necessary to boost the productivity of exporting firms.

Countries of the Southeast Europe (SEE) region have witnessed significant economic improvement since the beginning of their transition to market economies in the early 1990s. Growth has been particularly strong in the past six years, but still lower than in other fast growing countries in the East Asia and Baltic regions, or some of the other new member states of the European Union (EU). The purpose of this study is twofold: (i) to present recent trends in intra regional trade in SEE, in particular following the implementation of Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA); and (ii) to bring the attention of policy makers to some of the remaining impediments to enhanced intra regional trade. The rest of the study is organized as follows. Chapter two describes intraregional trade patterns, both prior and after the entry of CEFTA into force, including more detailed analysis of trade structure. Chapter three emphasizes the role of nontariff barriers (NTBs), such as technical regulations and standards, and their potential impact on trade enhancement, as well as the importance of the trade related environment drawing on global surveys and reports (doing business, Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS), logistics performance indicator, and the enabling trade index). It also looks at rules of origin and their role in trade creation. Chapter four aims to present the view of the private sector on CEFTA and on trade related reforms in general through two case studies of regional firms. Finally, chapter five concludes by summarizing the key recommendations of the study.

Ukraine's Trade Policy identifies the key drivers of Ukraine's recent trade performance, assesses current trade policies, and proposes recommendations to strengthen the Ukraine’s trade integration strategy. It also identifies core bottlenecks in the ongoing integration processes, including global and regional integration. The study concludes that the main obstacles to furthering Ukraine’s trade integration are domestic, and relate to deficiencies in the business environment. Problems in customs administration, standardization, and administrative barriers for new entry require immediate attention. The report highlights specific policy issues that hamper WTO accession, such as trade legislation, protection of intellectual property rights, government support for specific industries, and export restrictions. It also recommends improvements in the structure of Ukraine’s import tariffs, reform of both the regime of free economic zones and mechanism of VAT refund, and investment in a major upgrade of government capacity for investment and export promotion. The report also draws attention to the importance of the post-WTO accession agenda for Ukraine. To take advantage of WTO membership, the Government will need to undertake significant institutional reforms to implement WTO regulatory rules in ways that facilitate integration into the world economy and provide benefits to private sector participants.

  This paper identifies the determinants of trade flows between Colombia and South Korea. For this purpose, the economic and commercial profile for both countries, bilateral trade and the signed FTA were analyzed. Likewise, a gravity model for total and sectorial trade with panel data for the period of 1993-2013 is applied, finding consistencies with the theoretical postulates. Variables such as income of the importer and exporter countries determine positive and significant bilateral trade, while the distance and landlocked decrease the likelihood of trade. Furthermore, the results of the gravity model indicate that the free trade agreements have no significant impact on trade of South Korea; however, from the analysis of the agreement it is considered that Colombian agricultural and agro-industrial products have potential opportunities to compete in the Asian country.

The three most prominent trends in South America in the 2000s have been: 1) the rapid expansion of trade and borrowing ties with China; 2) the collapse of both regional and multilateral trade negotiating venues since 2006; and, 3) the quick recovery of most South American countries from the 2008-10 global financial crisis. This paper analyzes the ways in which these three trends have converged and shaped the choice of development strategy in Chile and Peru, which have the strongest trade ties with China in the entire Latin American region when measured as a percent of GDP. Indeed, both countries have sought to stake out their own paths by negotiating separate bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with China and the US. Yet, although making these respective policy choices may well represent the most viable way forward for small emerging market countries which have consolidated macroeconomic reforms and are prepared to take their economic strategy to the next level, the political implications of this development path have already become more complicated than expected.

Trade Performance and Regional Integration of the CIS Countries is part of the World Bank Working Paper series. These papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank’s ongoing research and to stimulate public discussion. This paper provides a detailed quantitative analysis, based on standard econometric models, of the trends and the configurations of trade of the CIS countries, with an emphasis on its low-income members. It also contains an analysis of the CIS countries’ trade potential and its realization in a comparative perspective, as well as examination of the nature of the existing CIS intra-bloc trade. The study reveals no evidence that the CIS countries as a group under-perform significantly in terms of either trade openness or export levels when compared to the countries of similar per capita GDP and population size. However, the low-income economies in the CIS (CIS-7) have been performing on average just marginally better than other low-income countries and, overall, they have been falling behind the countries that benefit most from globalization. Overall, progress in the trade area was slower in the CIS-7 countries than in the higher income CIS members. This is reflected in: (i) lower overall export level and slower export growth; (ii) higher trade deficit; (iii) lower share of manufacturing exports; (iv) incomplete reorientation of trade flows; and (v) lower incidence of intra-industry trade. This report found that the CIS free trade area is, on balance, a beneficial, trade-facilitating bloc. There is no evidence so far that the CIS integration is of the “South-South” type (harmful for some of its members). However, the potential benefits of CIS trade integration remain badly underutilized. The paper suggests several directions for strengthening the legal and administrative framework for intra-CIS trade arrangements.