Investment Implications of Selected WTO Agreements and the Proposed Multilateral Agreementon Investment

IMF Working Papers, May 1, 1997

Source details

Canonical URL: Investment Implications of Selected WTO Agreements and the Proposed Multilateral Agreementon Investment

The substantial increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) in recent years has triggered a discussion of a uniform treatment of investment in international law.
Most contributions to the multilateral investment framework derive from the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements on trade liberalization.
The resulting framework is incomplete, as the WTO agreements restrict their focus on investment to aspects related to international trade and often apply to selected sectors only.
A broader investment regime is needed to provide a more neutral incentive framework for investment liberalization and to promote efficient international investment flows.

Growth in FDI has prompted consideration of a uniform multilateral investment framework.
WTO agreements form the primary basis for multilateral investment rules but:
- Focus on investment aspects related to international trade.
- Often apply only to selected sectors.
The existing WTO-derived framework is characterized as incomplete.
A broader regime is argued to be necessary to:
- Provide a more neutral incentive framework for investment liberalization.
- Promote efficient international investment flows.

Subjects: Balance of payments, Capital account, Capital flows, Current account, Foreign direct investment, International trade, Trade balance
Keywords: Capital account, Capital flows, Current account, Foreign direct investment, Global, investment climate, investment flow, investment measure, investment rule, savings-investments imbalance, Trade balance, trims Agreement, WP, WTO agreement

Investment Implications of Selected WTO Agreements and the Proposed Multilateral Agreementon Investment, IMF Working Paper No. 1997/060.