Exporting Financial Services in Latin America and the Caribbean
According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), trade in services has become the most dynamic segment of world trade, growing more quickly than trade in goods. While travel remains the most exported service both worldwide and in Latin America and...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/341271569480296548/Exporting-Financial-services-in-Latin-America-and-the-Caribbean http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32484 |
| Summary: | According to the World Trade
Organization (WTO), trade in services has become the most
dynamic segment of world trade, growing more quickly than
trade in goods. While travel remains the most exported
service both worldwide and in Latin America and the
Caribbean (LAC), other services are becoming relevant for
both developed and developing economies. Among them,
financial services is one of the most important categories
in terms of value. Worldwide, the value of financial
services exports rose in real terms between 2008 and 2017.
Nevertheless, this global trend of rising exports of
financial services was not reflected in LAC, where they
contracted between 2008 and 2016. The economies of Latin
America and the Caribbean have significant potential to
export financial services. To take advantage of this
opportunity, governments in the region can work on a variety
of fronts to raise their economies’ competitiveness in this
area. Two specific challenges are the availability of human
capital and electronic infrastructure. The former refers to
the limited number of professionals that, in addition to
Spanish, speak the language of the importing economies and
are adequately educated and experienced in the areas
associated with services exports. The latter refers to the
electronic infrastructure and digital systems that
facilitate the export of financial services, but also the
high cost to develop communication schemes in the region.
Consequently, LAC’s export dynamism in financial services
will depend on long-term public policies and public-private
strategies with clear objectives for promoting human capital
and a competitive digital ecosystem. |
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