Follow Us

Follow us on Twitter  Follow us on LinkedIn
 

06 December 2019

IMF: Deepening the EU’s single market for services


To remove the cross-border restrictions on services trade, the IMF economists suggest combining incentives such as financial support, technical assistance and improved communication on barriers with more effective enforcement.

The services sector is increasingly important for the euro area economy, but productivity growth in the sector has stalled over the past two decades. Remaining barriers to cross-border trade in services within the EU Single Market contribute to this weak performance. Our empirical analysis suggests that slow progress in tackling these barriers is associated with political economy factors such as weak government support in parliaments, low government efficiency and high markups. To remove the cross-border restrictions on services trade, we suggest combining incentives such as financial support, technical assistance and improved communication on barriers with more effective enforcement.

Full paper



© International Monetary Fund


< Next Previous >
Key
 Hover over the blue highlighted text to view the acronym meaning
Hover over these icons for more information



Add new comment