Progress on trade facilitation through more efficient border processes was made across the globe between 2022-2024, as countries sought to ensure that global supply chains remain efficient, adaptable, and responsive to evolving patterns of trade, according to new data from the OECD.
The OECD Trade Facilitation Indicators: Monitoring Policies up to 2025 show that border bottlenecks and red tape, as measured by the OECD, were reduced on average by 3%-7% since 2022 across the 163 countries and regions covered.
As a result, trade facilitation reforms have reduced trade costs by up to 5% over the last decade. Further ambitious reforms have the potential to generate an additional 12 percentage points of trade cost savings.
The biennial OECD report, which monitors 11 key indicators on existing processes at the border and their implementation in practice, notes that improvements were seen across all regions: Asia – Pacific (4.4%), Europe and Central Asia (3.1%), The Americas (4.4%), Middle East and North Africa (4.7%), and Sub-Saharan Africa (6.5%).
Key trends identified in 2022-24 included significant progress on border agency co-operation, the top performing area of reform during this period. Comprehensive and accessible trade-related information is also increasingly available online, which is key to reducing administrative burdens and helping businesses anticipate and adapt to new trade policies.
Increasing efficiencies through simplified and streamlined border processes remains a critical issue for promoting competitiveness and economic growth through trade costs reductions.
Further efforts to close the gap between the establishment of regulatory frameworks and their implementation in practice are needed to unlock greater costs savings, boost trade flows, and strengthen economic resilience in an increasingly complex trade landscape.
For further information on OECD work on trade facilitation, see:
https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/trade-facilitation.html
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