The Implications of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATTS) for the Banking Sector in the Gulf Region

The Implications of WTO and GATS for the Banking Sector in Africa

“…This concern arises, in part, because the consequences of the GATS are not well understood and there is a sense among these countries that they are being pressurised into signing-up for something which may yet turn out to be to their detriment. There is some literature on the potential effects of the GATS on developing countries (see, for example, Murinde and Ryan, 1999). However, African countries, which are the subject of this paper, are somewhat special.…”

“…By contrast with commodity trade, traditional trade theory has little to offer by way of explanation of trade patterns in financial services trade. 4 Rather, while the explanation for the dominance of proponent countries in international banking differs in each case, a recurring theme is the distortionary impact of historical banking regulations resulting in the development or an enhancement of a comparative advantage in the provision of financial services (see, for example, Murinde and Ryan, 1999).…”

“…Thus, they had no clear vision of what the implications of the agreement might be, nor even what full compliance might entail, and privately at least, did not take the proposed time-schedule seriously. The subsequent financial crisis in the Far East has compounded this problem and many developing countries are now arguing that the effect of the GATS would be to leave them susceptible to a similar sort of crash (Murinde and Ryan, 1999).…”