G20 members imposed export restrictions at increased pace: WTO report

Ahead of the G-20 summit in Indonesia, a WTO report on Monday said that the G20 countries introduced export restrictions at an increased pace during mid-May and mid-October 2022 in the back of global economic uncertainties.

G20, a grouping of developed and developing nations, members include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, the UK, the US, among others.

It said that as of mid-October 2022, WTO (World Trade Organisation) members still had in place 52 export restrictions on food, feed and fertilizers, in addition to 27 export restrictions on products essential to combat COVID-19.

Of these, it said 44 per cent of the export restrictions on food, feed and fertilizers, and 63 per cent of the pandemic-related export restrictions, were maintained by G20 economies.

"In a context of economic uncertainty exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the food security crisis, G20 economies between mid-May and mid-October 2022 introduced export restrictions at an increased pace, particularly on food and fertilizer," according to the 28th WTO Trade Monitoring Report on G20 trade measures issued on November 14.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on these countries, and all WTO members, to refrain from adopting new trade-restrictive measures that can further contribute to a worsening of the global economic outlook.

It also said that during the review period, G20 economies introduced 66 new trade-facilitating measures (covering trade worth USD 451.8 billion) and 47 trade-restrictive measures on goods (with a trade coverage of USD 160.1 billion). These measures were not related to the pandemic.

The summit of the world's biggest economies on November 15 and 16 at Bali assumes significance for New Delhi as it will see handing over of the G-20 presidency to India by Indonesia at the closing ceremony of the annual gathering.