1. Economic performance An efficient services infrastructure is a precondition for economic success. Services such as telecommunications, banking, insurance and transport supply strategically important inputs for all sectors, goods and services. Without the spur of competition they are unlikely to excel in this role – to the detriment of overall economic efficiency and growth. An increasing number of Governments thus rely on an open and transparent environment for the provision of services.

2. Development Access to world-class services helps exporters and producers in developing countries to capitalize on their competitive strength, whatever the goods and services they are selling. A number of developing countries have also been able, building on foreign investment and expertise, to advance in international services markets – from tourism and construction to software development and health care. Services liberalization has thus become a key element of many development strategies.

3. Consumer savings There is strong evidence in many services, not least telecoms, that liberalization leads to lower prices, better quality and wider choice for consumers. Such benefits, in turn, work their way through the economic system and help to improve supply conditions for many other products. Thus, even if some prices rise during liberalization, for example the cost of local calls, this tends to be outweighed by price reductions and quality gains elsewhere. Moreover, governments remain perfectly able under the GATS, even in a fully liberalized environment, to apply universal-service obligations and similar measures on social policy grounds.

4. Faster innovation Countries with liberalized services markets have seen greater product and process innovation. The explosive growth of the Internet in the US is in marked contrast to its slower take-off in many Continental European countries which have been more hesitant to embrace telecom reform. Similar contrasts can be drawn in financial services and information technology.

5. Greater transparency and predictability A country's commitments in its WTO services schedule amount to a legally binding guarantee that foreign firms will be allowed to supply their services under stable conditions. This gives everyone with a stake in the sector—producers, investors, workers and users—a clear idea of the rules of the game. They are able to plan for the future with greater certainty, which encourages long-term investment.

6. Technology transfer Services commitments at the WTO help to encourage foreign direct investment (FDI). Such FDI typically brings with it new skills and technologies that spill over into the wider economy in various ways. Domestic employees learn the new skills (and spread them when they leave the firm). Domestic firms adopt the new techniques. And firms in other sectors that use services-sector inputs such as telecoms and finance benefit too.

 < Previous   Next >