The economy of that country is considered open where most of the markets, spheres and branches of the economy are freely accessible to foreign entities. In recent decades, as a result of changes in the global economy, most countries have become open economies.
The most important indicators of the openness of the economy are participation in world trade (the share of exports and imports in production, the size of the foreign trade quota), as well as the relative weight of foreign investment relative to domestic. Absolute indicators include, for example, the value of exports of goods (services) in monetary terms per capita. In the United States, this figure is more than 3200 dollars, in Russia - about 700 dollars.
With the open nature of the world economy, the state regulates the development of the national economy with the help of the so-called. tariff and non-tariff barriers. The tariff includes increasing the size of customs duties on imported goods. In 1948, an agreement was concluded between the countries - members of the World Trade Organization, from the moment of the beginning of which up to now the level of customs duties has decreased on average from 40% to 5-7%. Now leverage, mainly non-tariff methods.
What it is? First of all, quotas. Foreign trade quota is a restriction imposed on the export or import of goods by their quantity or total value. Quotas are set for a specific period and can be either general (for state needs) or special:
- natural, bearing restrictions in connection with the throughput of, for example, oil pipelines or port terminals;
- exceptional (introduced in emergency cases to protect the domestic market and ensure national security);
- tariff (limiting the number of goods imported at reduced rates or duty-free. Goods that are imported in excess of the established limit are taxed at full rate);
- export and import.
Export quota is a limited volume of export deliveries of a particular product. It is usually introduced in countries specializing in the export of specific raw materials as a measure of price stabilization. Thus, the export quota is a quantitative indicator characterizing the importance for the national economy of the export of a certain type of product or raw material. It is calculated for a certain period as a percentage of the volume of exported products (in quantitative or value terms) to the value of domestic production.
In case of voluntary restriction of export supplies, the export quota is usually set by bilateral agreement or international agreement.
Such an agreement may determine the share of each country in the export of a particular product (for example, oil). Also, the export quota can be introduced by the government in order to:
- sufficient filling of the domestic market with this type of product;
- restrictions on exports and stabilization of the price of goods in the domestic market;
- ensuring the balance of the trade balance and protecting national production interests;
- regulation of the processes of supply and demand of the domestic market;
- preservation of natural resources;
- in response to discrimination in the trade policies of other states.
Quotation of imports allows avoiding dependence on imports in the event of a reduction in the stock of necessary products (due to climatic or other conditions) and serves as a tool in negotiations on export deliveries of national products.
Quoting is a more flexible and progressive tool of foreign trade policy than changing tariffs, since the latter is established by the legislation of the country and international agreements, moreover, the quota makes it impossible to increase sales by lowering prices. In addition, through quotas, the state can provide support to certain producers and industries.
Foreign trade licensing can act as part of a quota or as an independent instrument of influence. A license (permission of state bodies) may be issued for import-export operations or their volume. It is applied for a certain period in relation to goods of general purpose and in a number of other cases. In the Russian Federation, the right to export goods under a quota, as well as import and export of certain special goods (military, precious stones and metals, etc.) is subject to licensing.
