IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/6512.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Increase in protectionism and its impact on Sri Lanka's performance in global markets

Author

Listed:
  • Kaminski, Bartlomiej
  • Ng, Francis

Abstract

Sri Lanka's external performance defies global trends on two counts. First, the level of openness as measured by the ratio of trade in goods and services, after a strong increase in 1987-95 and stagnation in 1996-2004, sharply fell in 2005-10 to the levels experienced during the era of import substitution. Second, the share of clothing in manufactured exports has remained largely unchanged over the past 25 years. Had there been no economic growth, this would not have been puzzling. The paper argues that these unique features can be traced to (a) the duality of Sri Lanka's economic regime -- the legacy of unfinished structural reforms of a socialist economic regime -- and (b) high and growing protectionism in the 2000s. Sri Lanka's experience shows that the lack of stability in trade policy combined with recently expanding protectionism and the state's micromanagement of investment does not create an institutional/policy setting conducive to rapidly evolving composition of exports and their fast growth. The practice of dealing with weaknesses in trade policies and the business environment through granting exemptions to various activities deemed desirable by the authorities only exacerbates distortions and creates more fertile ground for rent seeking. Without a radical overhaul of the current policy framework shaping interaction of Sri Lankan businesses with global markets, economic growth may be reduced, if not reversed.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaminski, Bartlomiej & Ng, Francis, 2013. "Increase in protectionism and its impact on Sri Lanka's performance in global markets," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6512, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6512
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2013/06/27/000158349_20130627085946/Rendered/PDF/WPS6512.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nordås, Hildegunn Kyvik, 2004. "The global textile and clothing industry post the agreement on textiles and clothing," WTO Discussion Papers 5, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    2. Aradhna Aggarwal, 2005. "Performance of export processing zones: a comparative analysis of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi Working Papers 155, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, India.
    3. Garry Pursell & F.M. Ziaul Ahsan, 2011. "Sri Lanka's Trade Policies: Back to Protectionism," ASARC Working Papers 2011-03, The Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre.
    4. Ng, Francis & Yeats, Alexander, 1999. "Production sharing in East Asia : who does what for whom, and why?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2197, The World Bank.
    5. Gary Hufbauer, 1970. "The Impact of National Characteristics & Technology on the Commodity Composition of Trade in Manufactured Goods," NBER Chapters, in: The Technology Factor in International Trade, pages 145-231, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Prema-chandra Athukorala & Sisira Jayasuriya, 2004. "Complementarity of Trade and FDI Liberalization in Industrial Growth: Lessons from Sri Lanka," ASARC Working Papers 2004-10, The Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre.
    7. Dani Rodrik, 2007. "Introductiion to One Economics, Many Recipes: Globalization, Institutions, and Economic Growth," Introductory Chapters, in: One Economics, Many Recipes: Globalization, Institutions, and Economic Growth, Princeton University Press.
    8. Kaminski, Bartlomiej & Ng, Francis, 2005. "Production disintegration and integration of Central Europe into global markets," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 377-390.
    9. Bair, Jennifer & Gereffi, Gary, 2001. "Local Clusters in Global Chains: The Causes and Consequences of Export Dynamism in Torreon's Blue Jeans Industry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 1885-1903, November.
    10. Gladys Lopez-Acevedo & Raymond Robertson, 2012. "Sewing Success? Employment, Wages, and Poverty following the End of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13137.
    11. Thomas Farole & Gokhan Akinci, 2011. "Special Economic Zones : Progress, Emerging Challenges, and Future Directions," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2341.
    12. Gereffi, Gary, 1999. "International trade and industrial upgrading in the apparel commodity chain," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 37-70, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Meenu Tewari, 2005. "The Role of Price and Cost Competitiveness in Apparel Exports, Post-MFA: A Review," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi Working Papers 173, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, India.
    2. Zhang, Xiaobo, 2016. "Building effective clusters and industrial parks," IFPRI discussion papers 1590, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. William MILBERG & Deborah WINKLER, 2011. "Economic and social upgrading in global production networks: Problems of theory and measurement," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 150(3-4), pages 341-365, December.
    4. Jolta Kacani & Lucas Wunnik, 2017. "Using Upgrading Strategy and Analytics to Provide Agility to Clothing Manufacturing Subsidiaries: With a Case Study," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 18(1), pages 21-31, March.
    5. Stephanie BARRIENTOS & Gary GEREFFI & Arianna ROSSI, 2011. "Economic and social upgrading in global production networks: A new paradigm for a changing world," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 150(3-4), pages 319-340, December.
    6. Matanda, Margaret Jekanyika & Freeman, Susan, 2009. "Effect of perceived environmental uncertainty on exporter-importer inter-organisational relationships and export performance improvement," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 89-107, February.
    7. Anna Giunta & Domenico Scalera & Francesco Trivieri & Jeffrey B. Nugent & Mariarosaria Agostino, 2011. "Firm Productivity, Organizational Choice and Global Value Chain," Working Papers 2011R09, Orkestra - Basque Institute of Competitiveness.
    8. repec:ilo:ilowps:369852 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Lall, Sanjaya & Albaladejo, Manuel, 2004. "China's Competitive Performance: A Threat to East Asian Manufactured Exports?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1441-1466, September.
    10. Fukunishi, Takahiro & Yamagata, Tatsufumi, 2013. "Slow and steady wins the race : how the garment industry leads industrialization in low-income countries," IDE Discussion Papers 412, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    11. Myrna S. Austria, 2006. "Enhancement and Deepening of the Competitiveness of the Philippine Electronics Industry Under a Bilateral Setting," Trade Working Papers 22610, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    12. Pushp, Pushkar & Ahmed, Faisal, 2023. "The global value chain: Challenges faced by ASEAN least developed countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1223-1245.
    13. David Córcoles & Carmen Díaz-Mora & Rosario Gandoy, 2013. "Product sophistication: A tie that binds partners in international production sharing," Working Papers 13-03, Asociación Española de Economía y Finanzas Internacionales.
    14. Prema-chandra Athukorala, 2005. "Product Fragmentation and Trade Patterns in East Asia," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 4(3), pages 1-27, Fall.
    15. Bair, Jennifer & Peters, Enrique Dussel, 2006. "Global commodity chains and endogenous growth: Export dynamism and development in Mexico and Honduras," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 203-221, February.
    16. Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro & Pananond, Pavida, 2023. "The rise of emerging market lead firms in global value chains," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    17. Cornelia Staritz & Mike Morris, 2013. "Local embeddedness and economic and social upgrading in Madagascar’s export apparel industry," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series ctg-2013-21, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    18. João Amador & Sónia Cabral, 2014. "Global Value Chains: Surveying Drivers, Measures and Impacts," Working Papers w201403, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    19. Thomas Laudal, 2010. "An Attempt to Determine the CSR Potential of the International Clothing Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 63-77, September.
    20. Valérie Smeets & Sharon Traiberman & Frederic Warzynski, 2014. "Offshoring and the Shortening of the Quality Ladder: Evidence from Danish Apparel," Working Papers 2014-14, CEPII research center.
    21. Ponte, Stefano & Kelling, Ingrid & Jespersen, Karen Sau & Kruijssen, Froukje, 2014. "The Blue Revolution in Asia: Upgrading and Governance in Aquaculture Value Chains," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 52-64.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade Policy; Free Trade; Economic Theory&Research; Debt Markets; Currencies and Exchange Rates;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6512. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.