Report

40 QUANTIFICATION OF BENEFITS FROM ECONOMIC COOPERATION IN SOUTH ASIA
Table 4.2 (a) EAMA Created by SAFTA (Partners Global Imports in %)
India Bangladesh Pakistan Sri Lanka Nepal Bhutan Maldives
India 85 86 1 0 0 85
Bangladesh 23 23 23 23 23 23
Pakistan 70 72 70 72 72 72
Sri Lanka 1 35 34 35 35 35
Nepal 0 52 46 46 52 52
Bhutan 0 68 66 66 66 68
Maldives 34 35 34 34 35 35
indication that Bangladesh’s sensitive list is
extremely restrictive. But only when the EAMA
under the next two measures are considered can a
proper picture emerge on this count.
These findings give us an idea of how much of
additional market access is created by each member
for each of the other members in terms of their
global imports. But since this measure is limited to
looking at the global value of EAMA created it
might not really be indicative of the benefit to the
member who receives the concession. Therefore it
is essential to look at the EAMA created in terms
of bilateral trade. Hence the next measure looks at
the EAMA created in terms of bilateral trade
between two members.
2. The proportion of value of bilateral imports of nonsensitive
items for which additional market access
is created to the total bilateral imports of concession
giver from concession receiver.
This measure gives an indication of the EAMA
afforded to products which are already being
bilaterally traded between a pair of countries. For
instance, India provides an EAMA to the extent of
92% of the value of its present bilateral imports
from Bangladesh and 90% and 97% in the case of
Pakistan and Maldives respectively [Table 4.2 (b)].
A higher figure tends to demonstrate a good result.
This measure is however limited as it looks at
bilateral trade prior to the FTA ; given that intra-
SAFTA trade basket is limited, and that most of
the existing trade may be taking place in products
in which are outside the sensitive list, this measure
is not adequate by itself.
Both the above measures look at the EAMA
created from the point of view of the concession
giving country. But in order to obtain an authentic
idea of the EAMA created, it is essential to look at
the weight of the value of those items in the export
basket of the concession receiving country. The
following measure does this.
3. The proportion of concession receiver’s value of
global exports of non sensitive items in which EAMA
would be created to their total global exports.
This measure is more comprehensive than the
first two, because it captures the trade specialisation
of the concession receiving country and determines
whether it receives access (to concession giver’s
market) in products which constitute most of its
(the concession receiver’s) global exports. In the
case of India and Bangladesh, it is seen that the
negative list of India has the effect of allowing
EAMA to Bangladesh in items that constitute only
about 18% of its global exports (Table 4.3). This
is largely because India’s negative list for LDCs
impedes EAMA in several garments products,
which actually do form the bulk of Bangladesh’s
global exports. The concessions which Pakistan and
Maldives receive in the Indian market vis-à-vis each
of their global exports is higher at 57% and 60%
respectively.
Table 4.2 (b) EAMA Created by SAFTA (Bilateral Imports in %)
India Bangladesh Pakistan Sri Lanka Nepal Bhutan Maldives
India 92 90 0 0 0 97
Bangladesh 25 22 45 76 9 25
Pakistan 86 69 66 74 47 100
Sri Lanka 1 10 8 82 0 52
Nepal 0 71 0 0 82 0
Bhutan 0 6 0 0 22 0
Maldives 26 0 33 26 100 0