The report titled 'Trade Policies in South Asia: An Overview' released on Monday in Dhaka, describes key aspects of the current trade regimes in the five largest South Asian countries and concludes that, despite progress towards liberalisation, protectionist forces are still strong in the region hampering growth and poverty reduction.

It looks into key aspects of the current trade regimes in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and offers recommendations on some of the key issues facing policymakers on trade reform.

The report released by World Bank's senior economist Zaidi Sattar is the first comprehensive review of South Asian trade regimes, examining policies within the countries and in light of the global context.

"Trade policies of South Asian countries are now much more open than they were in the past," Sattar, who is also the co-author of the report said.

He said, "most non-tariff barriers to imports have been removed and tariffs substantially reduced. Even though comprehensive trade liberalisation reforms have been implemented in all the countries, protection and protectionist forces are still strong, difficult and challenging trade policy reform agenda lies ahead."

The World Bank report examines trade regimes in their current state, their evolution over the past decade, their future direction and provides a comprehensive overview of some of the major issues under progress in the region, including agricultural subsidies and preferential trading arrangements.

It reviews the current status of trade openness on a country-by-country basis, with particular focus on tariffs, non-tariff barriers, anti-dumping, and export policies. Also featured are trade policies affecting key sectors like agriculture, fertilizers, and textiles and clothing.

"On an average, tariffs are much lower than they were in the past, but they are still too high when considered in the global context" Garry Pursell, lead consultant for the report said.

In India and Bangladesh, there was some backtracking on tariff reforms between 1997 and 2001, but tariff reductions resumed in 2002, with substantial lowering of rates in 2004.

Pakistan implemented a sweeping tariff reduction and simplification program between 1997 and 2002, while Sri Lanka's trade policy reforms came much earlier than in the rest of South Asia, and on an average its tariffs are by far the lowest in the region.