Caribbean faces higher trade costs

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - A new database developed jointly by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the World Bank reveals that trade costs fall disproportionately on the Caribbean and other developing countries. The World Bank said this has taken place although the international economy has integrated considerably in recent decades. "Although developing countries are becoming more integrated into the world trading system in an absolute sense, they are starting from a higher baseline and their relative position is deteriorating because the rest of the world is moving more quickly," the World Bank said.