INTRODUCTION TO THE TOOLKIT
This Trade Competitiveness Diagnostic (TCD) Toolkit provides a framework, guidelines, and practical tools needed to conduct an analysis of trade competitiveness. The toolkit can be used to assess the competitiveness of a country’s overall basket of exports, as well as specific traded sectors. It includes guidance on a range of tools and indicators that can be used to analyze trade performance in terms of growth, orientation, diversification, quality, and survival, as well as quantitative and qualitative approaches to analyze the market and supply-side factors that determine competitiveness. The toolkit facilitates the identification of the main constraints to improved trade competitiveness and the policy responses to overcome these constraints. The output of a TCD initiative can be used for a wide variety of purposes. In the World Bank, it could be a stand-alone product (such as Economic and Sector Work [ESW]) or could contribute to existing World Bank products—for example, it could form a substantial part of a Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS), a chapter within a Country Economic Memorandum (CEM), or the basis for programs within a Competitiveness Development Policy Loan. Overall, the TCD is designed to be used in a modular way—full-country diagnostics can be undertaken or various parts of the toolkit can be used to address specific questions of interest to the country team. The output from a TCD will identify issues to be addressed in more detail by technical experts, client-country policy makers and other stakeholders, and development partners. In some cases, it may identify issues that require another level of analysis using existing products from the World Bank or other development partners. In other cases, it will lead to engagement between client countries and specific experts. The TCD Toolkit is intended for policy makers and practitioners involved in analysis of trade performance and design of trade and industrial policy. Although the primary audience is World Bank country and regional staff,
including from Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM), Financial and Private Sector Development (FPD), and other networks, it is also designed for use by donors and development agencies, government ministries and agencies, and academic and policy institutions. Given the diverse objectives and interests of this target group, users are encouraged to make selective use of the Toolkit on the basis of their interests, contexts, and capacities. To make this toolkit useful to different audience needs, it is divided into two main sections: • Overview and Guidelines for Conducting a Trade Competitiveness Diagnostic—summarizes the main issues and offers a step-by-step guideline to conduct a diagnostic of trade competitiveness. This section is appropriate for all audiences, including policy makers and managers overseeing a TCD exercise. • Implementation Toolkit—provides detailed practical information and tools for actually carrying out the TCD. This is appropriate for practitioners conducting the analysis and for task team leaders organizing and managing the exercise. The Implementation Toolkit is divided further into three modules: ° Module 1: Trade Outcomes Analysis (indicators and tools) ° Module 2: Competitiveness Diagnostics (analytical frameworks, indicators, and interview guides) ° Module 3: Policy Options for Competitiveness and Case Studies The modules include a list of references to works cited in the toolkit. In addition, Module 1 offers an annex that describes the two-digit product classifications for Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) and Standard International Trade Classification (SITC). The book also includes an appendix that summarizes some recent papers on trade competitiveness that contributed to the preparation of the TCD Toolkit. Updates and details on the TCD Toolkit are on the World Bank’s Trade website at www.worldbank.org/trade.
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