Intra-regional trade among South Asian countries far from realizing potential: World Bank

Intra-regional trade among South Asian countries is far from realizing its potential, which could be owing to "trust deficit" and barriers to flow of goods and services, a new World Bank report has said.

Deeper regional trade and connectivity could help India treble its trade volume with the South Asian nations from the present levels of USD 23 billion to USD 67 billion, said the report titled 'A Glass Half Full: The Promise of Regional Trade in South Asia', authored by World Bank Lead Economist Sanjay Kathuria.

It said that all countries in the region could gain from increasing trade cooperation. Trade between India and Pakistan at present was USD 2 billion, which could rise to USD 37 billion without trade barriers, the report said.

Mutual trust deficit among the South Asian nations should be reduced to increase trading potential, the World Bank said in the report.

In this context, it said the creation of Indo-Bangladesh border has had increased the trade volume between two countries and substantially lowered the quantum of illegal transactions. Barriers to trade among the South Asian nations were constrained by the existence of tariff and non-tariff barriers, the report added.