Trade monitoring
Report by the Dominican Republic
One year after its previous Trade Policy Review in 2002, the Dominican Republic suffered one of the most serious economic and financial crises of its history following the bankruptcy of three banks owing to a combination of fraud, excessive loans to related parties, and poor management of public finances. This crisis led to high inflation, a sharp depreciation in the exchange rate, capital flight, a twofold increase in the public debt in the space of a single year, and a slowdown in the country’s economic growth. The Government’s commitment to drawing up and implementing an economic programme aimed at re-establishing fiscal, monetary and financial discipline and to introducing structural reforms in a number of areas contributed to a marked and rapid recovery of the economy and of international reserves, and hence lower inflation and interest rates, a more stable exchange rate, and the recovery and consolidation of economic growth.
Report by the WTO Secretariat
Rich in natural resources, Norway has been running a surplus in merchandise trade for more than 20 years. With sizeable exports of crude oil and natural gas, the surplus on the current account exceeded 10% every year during 2007-11. Norway saves a good portion of its oil and gas wealth in the Government Pension Fund – Global, invested entirely in assets abroad. At the end of March 2012, the Fund’s assets were valued at NKr 3.5 trillion (€460 billion). The central government budget has been in surplus every year since 1995.
Report by the United Arab Emirates
Successive developments in the economy of the United Arab Emirates, and the adoption of free market policies and regulations, have led to impressive growth rates and a trend towards sustainable and diversified development.
Trade, debt and finance
In 2011, the Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance contributed towards addressing some of the structural gaps in the trade finance markets. In particular, the G20 Summit in Seoul requested the WTO to ‘assess and monitor’ the effectiveness of programmes operated by multilateral development banks to facilitate the provision of trade finance to low-income countries. The work undertaken by the WTO in the area of trade finance has benefited from the positive interaction between WTO members and the Expert Group on Trade Finance convened by the Director-General.