- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Russia enters WTO on favorable conditions-analysts

Subscribe
After finally getting to the end of 18 years of membership talks, Russia will enter the World Trade Organization on favorable conditions, notably minor import tariffs cuts, analysts said on Friday.

After finally getting to the end of 18 years of membership talks, Russia will enter the World Trade Organization on favorable conditions, notably minor import tariffs cuts, analysts said on Friday.

The WTO Working Party on Russia’s accession sealed the deal on Russia’s entry to WTO on Thursday. A Ministerial Conference set for December 15-17, is expected to approve the package and accept Russia as a WTO Member. Russia will have until June 15, 2012 to ratify its accession package, the organization said.

"The tariffs cuts are not significant," Uralsib investment bank's Alexei Devyatov said. "Tariffs will remain in most cases, they will be lower, but will not disappear at all. Moreover, long transition periods are implied in many sectors."

Russia's import tariff ceiling would be cut to 7.8 percent, compared with a 2011 average of 10 percent for all products, the WTO said. The tariff ceiling for agriculture products will fall to 10.8 percent from 13.2 percent and for manufactured goods from 9.5 percent to 7.3 percent .

The final bound import rate will be in place on the date of accession for more than a third of national tariffs, with another quarter of tariff cuts to be implemented three years later. The longest implementation period is eight years for poultry, followed by seven years for cars, helicopters and civil aircraft.

"If we compare the conditions which Russia received with those of other countries which have become WTO members recently, the situation for our producers is much better," Deutsche Bank Russia’s Chief Economist Yaroslav Lisovolik said.

Import duties in Ukraine and other ex-soviet countries which entered the WTO were cut much more than those for Russia, he said, while the services’ market liberalization was much deeper than in Russia.

Devyatov said Russian producers would be able to adapt to the new conditions easily. "Generally speaking, we will enter the WTO, but will not notice that," he said.

Natalia Turdyeva from the Center for Economic and Financial research at New Economic School echoed Devyatov, said Russia’s entry to the WTO would pass practically unnoticed.

"If we look at the published terms of Russia's accession to the WTO, we will see that major import tariffs cuts are not suggested. It is likely that we will return to the pre-crisis level. So, next summer after the agreement’s ratification, prices on imports will not change considerably. In other words, the economy in general will not notice Russia’s accession to the WTO," she said.

The main positive consequences of Russia’s entry will be lower import prices, increased competition on the domestic market and the application of international business rules, she said.

Last week Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Klyuyev said Kiev could anull its approval of Russia’s entry to the WTO if Russia did not cut gas prices, but Lisovolik said it was an unlikely scenario.

"In fact, we have passed the point of no return. That was the last meeting of the Working Group. There is a possibility (of Ukraine’s anulling its approval), but it is tiny," Lisovolik said.

 

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала