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PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/249
 5 and 7 July 2005

TRADE POLICY REVIEW: THE PHILIPPINES

Growth prospects are linked to continued trade liberalization reforms

Sustained future growth in the Philippines will require continued domestic policy reforms, including further trade and investment liberalization and other structural reforms to improve productivity, particularly to compete with low-cost neighboring economies, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of the Philippines.

The report notes that, to meet present government growth forecasts, it appears necessary to address concerns like the slowdown in trade liberalization and the slippage in some other key reforms.

It adds that promoting more competition in services and in other markets, along with a sounder more efficient financial sector, will improve the investment and business climate needed to attract Foreign Direct Investment and private sector development.

The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government, will be the basis for the Trade Policy Review (TPR) by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations (12 pages, 95KB)
  > Economic environment (16 pages, 416KB)
  > Trade policy regime: framework and objectives (14 pages, 148KB)
  > Trade policies and practices by measure (40 pages, 450KB)
  > Trade policies by sector (42 pages, 330KB)
  > Appendix tables (18 pages, 415KB)
    
• Government report (13 pages, 108KB)
    
• Chairperson's concluding remarks
    
• Minutes of the meeting (includes questions and answers by WTO Members) available approximately 6 weeks after the meeting.
    
• Revisions of the above documents may be issued approximately 6 weeks after the meeting.
    

Note  back to top

Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government of the member under review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.

Print copies of previous TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop.

The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States.

Schedule of forthcoming reviews  back to top

Egypt: 26 and 28 July 2005
Trinidad and Tobago: 14 and 16 September 2005
Tunisia: 28 and 30 September 2005