Why Does Sri Lanka Claim It Has Less Capacity Than Least Developed Countries for Trade Facilitation?

Abstract

Higher costs and time resulting from opaque, complex, time consuming, manual export and and import procedures discourage businesses from engaging in international trade and undermine their international competitiveness. Such costs and time can be significantly reduced by simplifying, streamlining, and automating import and export procedures and making them more transparent. Doing so is referred to in trade jargon as trade facilitation. Research on the commitments and progress made in trade facilitation by Sri Lanka, a lower middle-income country, reveals that it is not only falling behind other middle-income countries but is also falling behind the least developed countries (LDCs). Over the last six years, Sri Lanka has made less progress than LDCs in making the country’s import and export procedures more efficient, more transparent, and less costly. What is alarming is that Sri Lanka, despite being a lower middle-income country, has claimed that it has lesser capacity than the LDCs to do the needful. This does not bode well for a country that is in dire need of foreign exchange. It is vital to take steps without delay to reverse this trend.