IMF, WTO against restrictions on exports during pandemic

These two institutions urged global leaders to refrain from imposing tough controls on product sales, as they have acted at the peak of the 2008 global financial crisis.

“We are concerned with disruptions of supply from restricting exports and other actions restricting the trade in medical and food products”, the IMF and the WTO said through a joint statement.

According to them, disruptions in the supply chain and the wrong direction of important products could last and exacerbate the health and economic crisis”.

The two organisations also warned that poor countries are likely to suffer more.

While global trade regulations allow the use of export restrictions during a national emergency, the IMF and the WTO warned that “what makes sense in an isolated emergency could be very damaging in a global crisis”.

Subsequently, export restrictions can be very counterproductive”, the statement said.

The IMF and WTO welcomed several countries' decisions to facilitate the trade in products needed for the battle against corruption, including lowering import duties.

Last year, global imports of necessary goods in the fight against Coronavirus -- such as facial masks, gloves, soaps, protective clothing, oxygen masks and ventilators -- have reached nearly $300 billion. /rel/