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1400 GENEVA TIME ( 1300  GMT) 17 JANUARY 2005  
 
PRESS/TPRB/241 
17 January 2005 
 
(05-0169) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: JAMAICA 
Reducing market distorti ons could foster growth 
Jamaica has made significant efforts to liberalize its trade and investment regime since its first 
review in 1998, reflecting the importance of trade to its economy. Legislative and institutional 
improvements that facilitate trade have been ad opted, and have enhanced transparency. Market-
opening initiatives have also been taken in various key service activities, according to a report on the trade practices and policies of Jamaica published by the WTO Secretariat. 
 
However, economic growth has been slow and per capita income has stagnated, while the high public debt has continued to constrain policy choices. Reassessing the numerous tariff and other 
tax exemptions currently in use could ease those constraints, and result in more neutral and 
transparent measures to promote growth.  
Jamaica could also enhance the predictability of reforms for traders and investors by increasing its 
multilateral commitments, in particular concerni ng trade in services, the report also says. 
 
The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Governments of Jamaica will be the basis for 
the second Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Jamaica by  the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 
17 and 19 of January 2005. 
 
The following documents are available in MS Wo rd format on the WTO web-site. They can be 
downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/tpr_e/tp241.htm  
 
• Secretariat report 
> Contents and summary observations  
> Economic environment  
> Trade and investment regimes  > Trade policies and practices by measure  
> Trade policies by sector  
> Appendix tables  
• Government report  
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks 
• Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). 
 PRESS/TPRB/241 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 
 Note 
Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant 
developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each 
review, two documents are prepared: a policy stat ement by the government of the member under 
review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in  the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These 
documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.  
 Print copies of the TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William 
Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop at 
https://secure.vtx.ch/shop/boutiques/wto_index_boutique.html  or follow this path :  
www.wto.org >resources > publications > trade policy reviews  
 
The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press , 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States 
Next reviews: 
Japan : 25 and 27 January 2005 
Sierra Leone : 9 and 11 February 2005 
Qatar : 21 and 23 of February 2005 
  
For a full list of previous trade policy reviews and the full programme of future reviews go to 
http://www.wto.org/english/trat op_e/tpr_e/tpr_ e.htm#reviews 
or follow this path : www.wto.org > trade topics > trade policy reviews 
 
 
END