Top 10 Most Liberal Countries in the Service Trade Sector

The liberalization of global services trade strengthened throughout 2021. This was revealed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its February 2022 edition of the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI).

The OECD assesses a country's level of liberalization based on the number of policies restricting international services trade, such as:

* Restrictions on foreign ownership
* Restrictions on (international) movement of people
* Barriers to business competition and public ownership
* Transparency of trade regulations and administrative requirements
* Other discriminatory actions in international trade

The OECD also measures the level of international trade barriers in various service sectors, including:

* Computer services
* Construction
* Professional services (legal, accounting, engineering, and architecture)
* Telecommunications
* Distribution
* Audio-visual services (broadcasting, film, sound recording)
* Transportation (air, sea, road, rail)
* Courier services
* Financial services (commercial banking, insurance)
* Logistics (cargo handling, warehousing, freight forwarding, customs brokerage)

The OECD scores countries on a scale of 0-1, where "0" represents the most liberal or barrier-free international trade system, and "1" represents a system with the strictest trade restrictions.

Based on the above assessment indicators and scoring system, OECD data shows the 10 countries with the best median scores for services trade liberalization are:

1. Czech Republic: 0.121
2. Netherlands: 0.144
3. Latvia: 0.148
4. Slovakia: 0.149
5. Japan: 0.151
6. Germany: 0.153
7. United Kingdom: 0.153
8. Portugal: 0.159
9. Chile: 0.161
10. Lithuania: 0.168

Indonesia itself received a median score of 0.429 in the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI), indicating that Indonesia still faces significant barriers in international services trade. This places Indonesia at the bottom of the 48 countries assessed by the OECD.

(Also read: More than 50% of Indonesian Youth Worked in the Service Sector in 2021)