BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

REGIONAL TRADE LIBERALISATION AND NON-TARIFF BARRIERS: THE CASE OF BANGLADESH’S TRADE WITH SOUTH ASIA

Author: Mahfuz Kabir

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.566888/BIISSj2014v35n2a2

ABSTRACT

Although trade liberalisation measures are in place for eight years, intra-regional trade in South Asia has been meagre and is not encouraging at all as Bangladesh’s export market in the region. India also granted duty free quota free access to almost all traded Bangladeshi products, which is also not showing significant increase in Bangladesh’s export to reduce the country’s mounting trade deficit with India. Therefore, overwhelming presence of non-tariff barriers has been perceived to be resulted in intra-regional trade significantly lower than expected. Given this context, the paper tries to identify the non-tariff barriers in South Asia in the context of Bangladesh’s export expansion in this region. It takes a few product-specific cases in both export and import of Bangladesh to examine the barriers prevailing in neighbouring countries, viz. India, Nepal and Bhutan. The paper reveals that such barriers are related to bonded warehouse, gate pass, shipment and customs, infrastructure in land customs stations, visa, speed money, and excessive checking, which have been suggested to constrain expected gains from regional trade liberalisation measures. The paper argues that India’s countervailing duty on garments import has not impacted negatively on Bangladesh’s exports, but there is scope for further improvement if the duty is set equally for Indian and foreign manufacturers.