The World Bank again condemns subsidies
Citation
CTA. 2003. The World Bank again condemns subsidies. Agritrade, February 2003. CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Permanent link to cite or share this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/52426
External link to download this item: http://agritrade.cta.int/Back-issues/Agriculture-monthly-news-update/2003/February-2003
Abstract/Description
Speaking in Cairo, the World Bank Chief Economist Nicholas Stern described OECD...
Notes
Speaking in Cairo, the World Bank Chief Economist Nicholas Stern described OECD agricultural subsidies as 'sin'. He pointed out that the EU was a worse offender than the USA, and Japan was a worse offender than the EU. He was particularly critical of those who 'speak about the advantages of trade, about the advantages of liberalisation, about the advantages of markets and then close their markets or restrict access.
Comment:
Although these criticisms are to a degree justified, they miss the main point with regard to the current trajectory for agricultural reform in the EU. These reforms will allow the EU to progressively open up its markets to imports, but as a result of the level of direct aid payments being made, this will be at prices comparable to world market prices. This will greatly reduce the attractiveness of the EU market, particularly considering the high hygiene standards which ACP exporters will have to comply with. The question for the ACP is what value will preferential access hold when EU prices have been brought down to world market prices levels and EU production is being maintained (or even allowed to expand) on the basis of increased levels of direct aid support?
Organizations Affiliated to the Authors
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural CooperationCollections
- CTA Agritrade [1158]