CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

At the same time, the importance of the utilization rate of the channels for electronic commerce between the UK and the rest of the world cannot be diminished, despite the decline in the total share of the UK’s services exports via this mode from 36% to 22%. This is particularly so given the overall rise in e-commerce and digital trade occurring globally at the present time due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the radical shifts that have taken place across traditional business models. Consequently, the availability of channels for the digital trade in services between the UK and CARIFORUM also augurs well for increasing access to technology and soft infrastructure that are needed to support industrial development, particularly as the world advances rapidly into the fourth industrial revolution.

iv.

UK Global Imports by Mode of Supply

At the same time, the UK’s imports from the rest of the world were largely attributed to Mode 3 at 71.6%, followed by Mode 1 accounting for 20.1% of its global imports in 2017. This was followed by imports under Mode 2 at 5.8%, which more than doubled UK services imports occurring via Mode 4 at just 2.6%. The UK’s ONS data for 2019 further showed that the bulk of the UK’s imports (excluding Mode 3) occurred under Mode 1, followed by Modes 2 and 4, respectively, thus maintaining consistency with the structure of the 2017 estimates. The UK’s total non-investment related imports from the rest of the world was 55% for Mode 1, 35% for Mode 2 and 10% for Mode 3.

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