A comparative study of the trade policies of Malta and Singapore

Abstract

The policies which any country chooses to adopt in the process of determining its share in international trade are crucial to that country's economic well-being. This is especially true of a country which is a small, developing, overpopulated island with no natural resources of its own. Such a country will tend to be heavily dependent on imports both for its raw materials and for a large proportion of manufactures. Heavy dependence on imported industrial inputs renders export competitiveness more difficult to achieve and a policy of complete import substitution an impossibility. In such an environment trade policies play a vital role in ensuring that a healthy balance of payments together with a steady rate of growth are maintained. When examining the trade policies of a developing country one has to consider them within the context in which they were evolved. Several factors have to be taken into consideration such as political and social beliefs, industrialization and development strategies, the state of the economy in general as well as historical events. A step further would be to compare the trade policies of that particular country with those of another nation which developed under similar conditions or circumstances.