Group of 20 (G20) members should remain vigilant in opposing protectionism, as unemployment rates would remain high throughout this year, while uncertainties about the timing and strength of a global economic recovery continue, a new report has urged.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Tuesday released the second ‘Joint Report on G20 Countries’ Trade and Investment Policy Measures’.

The researchers had found that while some G20 members have continued to implement new trade restrictive policies between September and February, the extent of these restriction had been limited and an escalation of protectionism has continued to be avoided.

“There have been fewer instances than in earlier periods of G20 members taking potentially trade restrictive measures, and more cases of trade opening measures and of the termination of investigations into ‘unfair’ trade practices without the imposition of new trade remedy measures,” stated the report.

The WTO Secretariat had found that new import restricting measures introduced by G20 members during this timeframe, covered about 0,7% of G20 imports of about 0,4% of total world imports.

The equivalent trade coverage of G20 measures in the previous report, which dealt with the period between October 2008 and October 2009, had been about 1,3% of G20 imports and about 0,8% of world imports.

The researchers noted that there had not seemed to be a “significant intensification” of trade or investment restrictions by the G20 economies during September last year and mid-February, despite past experience showing that prolonged periods of job losses and unemployment were catalysts for more restrictive policymaking.

The global unemployment rate was at its highest-ever level and more than 27-million people had lost their jobs in 2009.

“Most G20 members continue to manage successfully the political process of keeping domestic protectionist pressures under control, despite a difficult environment for some of them where employment levels and new job opportunities are shrinking,” the report highlighted.

It added that the fact that G20 leaders continued to reaffirm their commitment to maintaining open trade and investment regimes was a further positive sign.

Nevertheless, the Unctad, the OECD and the WTO urged G20 members to continue opposing protectionism and to develop possible exit strategies from any trade restrictions or other measures with trade restrictive or distorting effects that were taken in response to economic conditions in 2009.

“They also need to work diligently and quickly to strengthen the multilateral trading system and to improve multilateral market access by concluding the Doha Round. International trade and investment offers one of the surest routes forward to noninflationary and sustained global economic recovery,” the organisations said.

The Doha trade negotiations have been ongoing since November 2001.

Meanwhile, the researchers pointed out that world trade had declined by about 12% in 2009 back to 2006 levels, while foreign direct investment (FDI) had also fallen sharply.

G20 FDI inflows had declined by 45% to $580-billion in 2009, while total global FDI inflows had dropped by about 39% to $1-trillion in 2009, Unctad highlighted in its ‘Global investment trends monitor’ report, released in January.

While there have been signs of improved trade conditions in recent months, the WTO said that the sustainability of a more general, global economic recovery remained uncertain.