Revitalising Services Trade for Global Growth
Evidence from Ten Years of Monitoring Services Trade Policies through the OECD STRI
The global economy relies increasingly on services for economic growth, employment,
and innovation. Moreover, services trade plays a crucial role in mitigating some of
the biggest challenges of our times, including by strengthening resilience in supply
chains, supporting the digital transformation, and enabling a greener economy. Since
2014, the OECD has monitored services trade policies through the OECD Services Trade
Restrictiveness Index (STRI), and offers annual updates on data related to services
regulations. The STRI identifies opportunities for policy reform, and facilitates
the quantification of benefits of open and well-regulated services markets. Building
on a decade of monitoring and analysing services policies, this report presents developments
on the evolution of the global regulatory and policy environment for services trade.
It highlights that services trade barriers remain high and asymmetric across countries
and regions, but that ambitious reforms could yield important benefits in terms of
trade cost reductions. The report also serves as a unique roadmap for governments
to develop ambitious strategies to revitalise services trade and how to leverage the
STRI database, indices, and tools in order to implement impactful reforms.
Published on June 24, 2024