Chart of the Day: Singapore most active player in bilateral trade agreements

Surprisingly, what's up with Hong Kong having only 2 FTAs concluded to-date?

According to Ernst & Young, bilateral free-trade agreements (FTAs) will help to lower trade barriers. The graph screen on the right which was screen grabbed from E&Y's latest report titled "Beyond Asia: New patterns of trade" summarizes the number of FTAs concluded by each country. Stronger economies, it said tend to have more cross-regional FTAs.

According to the graph, Singapore to-date reported the most number of concluded FTAs - 11 within Asia Pacific and 7 outside the region.

"The trend toward cross-regional agreements has become even stronger recently, indicating that Asia- Pacific continues its outward trade trend," said E&Y.

Hong Kong however is an exception with just 2 FTAs concluded which are both within Asia Pacific.

E&Y nevertheless notes that although trade agreements may indicate the export strategies of Asia’s leaders, it observes that leading exporters in the region (China, Thailand, South Korea) are becoming importers.

"A virtual cycle of inter-regional trade is created as Asia-Pacific Rapid Growing Marketss — from low-cost Vietnam to highly skilled SouthKorea — bring complementary capabilities and products. However, the main driver of intraregional trade in Asia will be China, both as exporter to other economies in the region and as the fastest-growing source of demand for exports from those economies," it said.