World Bank report says Argentina is the world’s top protectionist

For the second time in the roll a study from World Bank’s Global Trade Alert points Argentina as the world’s most protectionist country.

In a report released by the institution, Argentina appears as the country which applies the most restrictions to control foreign trade for the second time in a roll.

Argentina tops the list of countries with more commercial restrictions, both for imports and exports, and also for foreign currency controls.

According to the report, Argentina applied 168 measures since 2009 to restrict and control the trade followed by Russia, US, China, India and Brazil.

National curbs to imports affect mainly China, Brazil and the United States, the document informed.

The 11th Global Trade Alert report on protectionism – assembled by an independent team of trade policy analysts from around the world – provides a detailed account of the resort to beggar-thy-neighbour policies from the first crisis-era G20 summit in November 2008 until May 2012, the institution explained.

To the Global Trade Alert, those protectionist policies were detrimental to the overall economy, harming development and employment.

“Such protectionism translates into lost commercial opportunities, threatened jobs, and slower economic recoveries,” the document read.