GENEVA, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Governments around the world continued to impose protectionist measures in the last quarter of 2009 despite economic stabilisation, according to a report from the Global Trade Alert website issued on Thursday.
The rate of protectionism at the end of last year was in line with quarterly rates earlier in 2009, said the independent trade watchdog.
Despite their pledges to do otherwise, it seems that the G20 rich and emerging powers were responsible for an even bigger share of protectionist moves than previously thought, it said.
“Any benefits of stabilisation and recovery have yet to kick in as far as protectionism is concerned,”, said economist Simon Evenett, one of the coordinators of the project, in a statement.
The website, www.globaltradealert.org, was set up last year to monitor and analyse trade measures such as challenges to cheap imports, after the G20 and other nations promised not to respond to the economic crisis by curtailing commerce.
