Market and Trade Information - WBG
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Web: http://www.worldbank.org
Transparency in Trade (TNT)
The TNT data initiative, a partnership of the ITC, UNCTAD, AfDB and the World Bank Group with support from UNSD comprises a joint multi-year program of data collection, capacity building and open-access provision of trade and trade policy data. The objective is to collect data that complements what is reported by the WTO, integrate the use of this data with related databases, and build capacity at the national and regional levels to make the initiative sustainable. The range of data is already available under WITS (see below) – which includes trade volumes and values and tariff schedules –is being extended to non-tariff measures (NTMs), including anti-dumping and other contingent protection measures, and policies affecting trade in services.
World Integrated Trade System (WITS)
The World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) is a software developed by the World Bank in close collaboration and consultation with various international organizations, including United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), International Trade Center (ITC), United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD), and World Trade Organization (WTO).
WITS integrates a number of trade-related databases, including UN COMTRADE, UNCTAD TRAINS, and WTO IDB/ CTS, and is the ideal platform for trade economists, researchers, government policy makers, trade negotiators, and academics needing large amounts of cross-country comparable time series data on trade flows and trade policies. WITS supports various nomenclatures, calculation of indicators, and a partial equilibrium model to simulate effects of tariff cuts on trade and welfare. It is a one-stop-shop for data on trade flows, tariffs, and non-tariff measures.
WITS is an important resource for developing country government officials who want to develop and implement trade competitiveness strategies. Since the launch of WITS in September 2010, around 13,000 users (of which 13% are from African countries) have accessed WITS from 194 countries. Of the top 10 countries from which users access WITS, six are developing countries. The average global monthly data download from WITS is approximately 3.5 billion rows. The WITS website attracts an average of 7,500 unique visitors each month and more than 12,000 page views.
WITS can be accessed at: http://wits.worldbank.org
GTAP Database
The GTAP Database is a fully documented, publicly available global database which contains complete bilateral trade information and transport and protection linkages among regions for all GTAP commodities. It is most commonly used with the GTAP Model and RunGTAP software and has been widely used in the evaluation of multilateral trade negotiations and, more recently, in the evaluation of policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The latest GTAP database, released in 2012, contains data for 57 sectors and 129 countries/regions.
The GTAP Data Package is available upon payment of charges at: https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/products/default.asp
Discounted pricing is available for lower-middle and low-income developing countries, using the World Bank classification. A selection of free databases and related utilities are publicly available for download at: https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/resources/free_resources.asp
Overall Trade Restrictiveness Indices (OTRI)
The OTRI are computed annually when new trade flows and tariff data are available. These indices feed into the annual Global Monitoring Report, which is jointly published by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The latest indices and the underlying trade data and elasticity estimates can be download from below.
The set of indices comprises an Overall Trade Restrictiveness Index (Tariff and Non-Tariff Measures), a Trade Restrictiveness Index (only Tariff) and a Market Access Overall Trade Restrictiveness Index. The indices allow users to have a comprehensive view of the restrictions on both exports and imports by summarizing in a single number the different effects trade policies have on a country’s trade flows (e.g., tariffs, quotas, non-automatic licensing, antidumping duties, countervailing duties, tariff-quotas, subsidies, etc.).
The indices can be compared across countries and can be freely downloaded at: http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/0,,contentMDK:22574446~pagePK:64214825~piPK:64214943~theSitePK:469382,00.html
Agricultural Distortions Database
This database provides a set of quantitative estimates of agricultural distortion policies for 55 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe’s transition economies, as well as 27 high-income countries. Combined, these countries account for more than 90 percent of the value of global agricultural output. Among the measures included in the database are: nominal rates of assistance for all agricultural tradable goods and for all non-agricultural tradable goods, consumer tax equivalents, volumes of production, domestic producer farm gate prices, values of production and consumption at undistorted prices, shares of production exported, shares of consumption imported, and self-sufficiency ratios. Almost all measures are available at the individual farm product level. The time span covered by the database is 1955-2010. A supplementary database also provides estimates of welfare and trade reduction indexes.
The database and its supplemental can be freely downloaded at:
Tariff Reform Impact Simulation Tool (TRIST)
TRIST is an interactive Excel-based tool to simulate the short-term impact of tariff reform on fiscal revenue, imports, protection, and domestic output and employment. Its purpose is to allow policymakers to evaluate the adjustment costs associated with trade policy decisions quickly. The tool is based on statutory and collected tariff, import, VAT and excise revenue data at the tariff line (HS 8 digit) level, broken down by trading partner groups. Import responses to tariff changes are modeled in a partial equilibrium framework, taking into account exporter substitution effects, domestic substitution effects and the effect of tariff liberalization on overall demand. So far, TRISTs have been developed for Burundi, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritius, Nigeria, Seychelles, Tanzania, and Zambia.
TRIST can be downloaded free of charge at: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/TRADE/0,,contentMDK:21537281~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:239071,00.html
Trade Costs Dataset
This dataset is the result of cooperation between the World Bank Trade Department and the Trade Division in UNESCAP and is built on information collected for trade and production in 178 countries. That data is then used to infer estimates of trade costs in agriculture and manufacturing for the period 1995-2010. Symmetric bilateral trade costs are computed using an Inverse Gravity Framework, which estimates trade costs for each country pair from bilateral trade and gross national output. The dataset provides a direct understanding of the magnitude of trade costs that slow regional and global trade integration. It helps measure the impact not only of distance but also of policies – especially those beyond trade policies – that explain trade costs, such as those associated with weak trade facilitation, inefficient logistics or poor connectivity of international transportation networks.
Logistics Performance Index (LPI)
The Logistics Performance Index is based on a worldwide survey of operators on the ground (global freight forwarders and express carriers), who provide feedback on the logistics “friendliness” of the countries in which they operate and those with which they trade. Feedback from operators is supplemented with quantitative data on the performance of the main components of the logistics chain in the country of work, with data collected for 155 countries.
The LPI thus includes both qualitative and quantitative measures. It helps build profiles of logistics friendliness for those countries covered. It measures performance along the logistics supply chain within a country and offers two different perspectives: International and Domestic. The International LPI provides qualitative evaluations of a country in six areas by its trading partners - logistics professionals working outside the country. In the domestic LPI, by contrast, surveyed logistics professionals assess the logistics environments in the countries where they work. The domestic part thus contains more detailed information on countries’ logistics environments, core logistics processes and institutions, and performance time and cost. The LPI survey was designed and implemented by the World Bank International Trade and Transport Departments, with help from Finland’s Turku School of Economics. It was endorsed and promoted by the Global Facilitation Partnership for Transportation and Trade. The LPI Survey would not have been possible without the active support and participation of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations and the Global Express Association. The World Bank conducts the LPI Survey every two years to improve the reliability of the indicators and to build a dataset comparable across countries and over time. A new and updated version of the LPI was launched in May 2012.
The LPI can be freely accessed at: http://www.worldbank.org/lpi
Services Trade Restrictiveness Database
Services reform is at the heart of both the competitiveness and trade facilitation pillars of the World Bank’s Trade Strategy, as well as being a key element of market access and inclusiveness. This database provides detailed and comparable information on policy and regulatory measures affecting international trade-in- services across a large range of countries, sectors, and modes of delivery. Currently, the database has information on 103 countries, five key sectors (financial services, telecoms, retail distribution, transportation and professional services, each disaggregated into subsectors as applicable) and the most relevant mode(s) of supplying the services in each sector.
In the coming year, the database will be published on a dedicated internet website. It will also be expanded to cover new sectors, particularly health and education as well as certain elements of logistics services. A separate challenge is to develop credible approaches to quantifying the restrictiveness of services policies and regulation, including improving on the newly created Services Trade Restrictiveness Index score.
Temporary Trade Barriers Database (TTBD)
The TTBD contains freely available and detailed data on over 30 countries’ use of policies such as antidumping, global safeguards, China-specific transitional safeguards and countervailing duties. The information in the database covers over 95 percent of the global use of these measures from the 1980s through the end of 2011 and includes data on products, firms, investigative procedures, and results.
The TTBD can be accessed at:
http://go.worldbank.org/OBLVE7MHY0
Doing Business Database
This interactive tool and database offer a collection of quantitative indicators representative of a country’s business regulations and their enforcement across 183 economies and selected cities at the sub-national and regional levels. The quantitative indicators cover the regulatory framework of key stages in the life of business, including dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. Measures can be compared across countries and over time and can be used in conjunction with other cross-country time series data.
The database and the tool are freely available at: http://www.doingbusiness.org