Unlocking Global Opportunities : The Aid for Trade Program of the World Bank Group
Aid for trade is a means to help developing countries, especially low-income countries, integrate into the world economy as a way to spur growth. The recent financial crisis and global recession have, if anything, made aid for trade more urgent. Tr...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2009/01/19516957/unlocking-global-opportunities-aid-trade-program-world-bank-group http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18717 |
| Summary: | Aid for trade is a means to help
developing countries, especially low-income countries,
integrate into the world economy as a way to spur growth.
The recent financial crisis and global recession have, if
anything, made aid for trade more urgent. Trade worldwide is
likely to contract in 2009. It has become a main channel
through which recessionary impulses from the United States
and Europe are transmitted to developing countries. But
these forces will sooner or later reverse: when growth does
resume, trade is likely to be a leading source of demand.
Helping countries to take full advantage of the global
recovery, whenever it comes, has become a priority for
rekindling growth, as well as sustaining rising incomes into
the future. The aid-for-trade program of the World Bank
Group, as with other donors, is multifaceted. It goes beyond
concessional lending commitments to low-income countries
(the conventional definition used by the OECD/WTO). It also
involves World Bank non-concessional trade-related lending
to middle-income countries. Promoting trade-led growth in
middle-income countries creates market opportunities for
neighboring low-income countries, to say nothing of the
benefits such opportunities entail for trade creation
worldwide. Moreover, investments by the World Bank's
private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation
(IFC), in private sector activities can also generate trade
and growth by expanding productive capacity in tradable
goods. IFC private investments in the financial sector have
also been instrumental in overcoming crisis induced
constraints on trade finance. Finally, focusing solely on
financial flows would miss the important role of policy
advice and technical assistance embodied in studies and
capacity-building efforts of donors. |
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