The UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics 2000 (1), released today, is intended to serve as a resource for keeping track of trends in the global economy. It provides a comprehensive collection of compatible and comparable data relevant to the analysis of world trade, investment and development for use by government officials, researchers, international organizations and the private sector.
The printed version of the Handbook covers:
- international merchandise trade: values, trends, structure and trade zones by product category, region and economic grouping;
- international trade in services;
- volume and terms-of-trade indices, as well as commodity price indicators;
- export and import structure by major commodity groups, by origin and destination, by commodity and by country, based on SITC (Rev. 2);
- export concentration indices;
- international financial data showing current accounts, financial flows, foreign direct investment, external indebtedness and workers’ remittances by country;
- selected indicators of development: GDP, its growth rates and various social indicators reflecting country conditions related to education, health, access to information, etc.;
- tentative terms-of-trade estimates by country; and
- a detailed matrix of world exports by selected commodity classes and by regions of origin and destination.
In this year’s Handbook:
Is the "new economy", where wealth is created by harnessing knowledge to an open trading system, really driving economic growth and development in today’s global economy?
A quick glance at the world’s most traded goods shows that there is more to economic development than computer chips and dot.com companies; information technology is indeed a large and rapidly growing part of the trading system, but traditional activities revolving around transportation remain dominant (see table below, 10 most traded commodities). It is hardly surprising that oil price hikes can still provoke uncertainty and disruption in an interdependent world.
Who is trading in the new economy?
Most developing countries are still heavily dependent on one, two or three items, as demonstrated by the Handbook’s table of the most traded commodities of selected countries; clearly, the new economy has not yet migrated south.
So do we still need to worry about terms of trade?
The Handbook provides a consistent time series for individual developing countries from 1980 for their terms of trade and the purchasing power of exports. The picture shows considerable variation, but notwithstanding the low prices of oil prevailing in the past decade, the terms of trade of the least developed countries (LDCs) have steadily deteriorated, and in 1998 were some 19 percentage points below the 1990 level.
Are services the future engines of export-led growth?
They certainly could be, but are not yet; the share of services in the value of total world trade has not changed much over the past decade. It has risen by less than one percentage point, from 18.4% in 1990 to 19.2% in 1998. And the corresponding data for developing countries actually show a slight decline, from 16.8% to 16.5%.
Is regionalism the wave of the future?
In fact, regionalism has been a rising trend for some time, particularly among developed countries; the share of intra-trade in total exports is already very high among APEC and EU countries, and the 1990s saw a strong growth in North America. But the past decade also witnessed the emergence of subregional blocs in Latin America and Asia. So far only Africa has bucked this trend.
With its wide scope of statistical categories and indicators, the UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics 2000 is a tool for economic decision-making. It will serve those who need to grasp development trends quickly in particular countries and regions, as well as those interested in sectoral issues or global socio-economic processes.
The printed volume contains numerous updates and puts more emphasis on data referring to recent years than the CD-ROM version, issued in February 2000. Wherever possible, it presents data analytically, providing values, percentages and rankings so as to enable easy assessments and improved reference. The years covered by the data range from 1980 to 1999.
The printed edition is part of the integrated presentation of the UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics, conceived to contain the following complementary versions: hard copy, CD-ROM and Internet. This approach is a result of UNCTAD’s efforts to keep pace with unfolding technological developments and to address policy concerns of member countries. To mark the change, a new title has been selected for this publication, formerly known as the Handbook of International Trade and Development Statistics.
