CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

Figure 13: UK Global Commercial Services Exports and Imports (2015 – 2020)

Source: WTO Statistics Database

Overall, the UK commercial services exports experienced a downward trend during the period 2015 to 2020, with exports peaking at just over US$400 billion in 2018 before dipping below US$350 billion in 2020. This was complemented by a similar trend on the import side, with inflows of commercial services declining overall from approximately US$225 billion in 2015 down to US$200 billion in 2020, notwithstanding imports approaching US$270 billion in 2019. Consequently, the UK experienced a balance of trade surplus in its commercial services trade in each of the six years during the period of assessment.

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UK Global Trends in Total Services Trade

The picture generally remains the same over the entire course of the period during which the UK was a party to the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), with the UK’s total global services exports exhibiting an overall positive trend, peaking at US$416 billion in 2019, and increasing by over 28% year-on-year between 2008 to 2019. The UK’s imports also trended steadily upwards throughout the period, before peaking at approximately US$284 billion in 2019, resulting in positive trade in services surpluses in every year of the assessment period.

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