Tarptautinė prekyba paslaugomis: tendencijos ir problemos

Abstract

The sphere of services started to develop very actively in the last century. Nowadays this sector of economics gained the dominant positions: currently those services compound more than two thirties of the World’s Gross National Product (GNP). Approximately seventy percent of the GNP is obtained in sector of the services. Moreover, this sector is growing much faster (16 percent per year) than trade in services (7 percent per year only). Currently more than seventy percent of the employees are working in the sector of the services, and this part practically contains all the development of employment. According to the data of the Statistic Department of Lithuania and the Bank of Lithuania, during period 2000 – 2006 the services became the key in economical sector in the structure of the Lithuanian economy, and it compounds the biggest part of surplus. Despite this fast development of the sector of the services, many problems that limit this market are rising up, for example, obstructions for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME), the problems with innovations, the efficiency of the employment, the obstacles that influence the establishment of the enterprises. It is necessary to make the comprehensive analysis of the sector of the services in order to solve those problems. The conception of the service, groups of the services traded in the international market and their accounting, the development of the services of the international market and its changes, the factors that influence them are analyzed in this paper. The big attention is paid to the analysis of the services of the market of EU (as it is one of the most powerful organizations influencing the world’s market of services) and Lithuania. According to the data of international organizations, foreign and Lithuanian sources and researches, the elements of impact, the biggest attention is given to the Directive of the European Union on services in the internal market (COM (2006) 160 final) and it’s impact to the economic and changes of the market of services in the EU and Lithuania, are revealed and approached.. After making the comprehensive analysis of the international organizations, foreign and Lithuanian sources and researches, Directive of the European Union on services in the internal market and other law’s acts, the main problematic spheres of the sector of the services and the tendencies of development in EU and Lithuania are measured. The main problematic spheres both in EU and Lithuania are these: the obstacles for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises; problems concerned with innovations; the efficiency of the employment; the usage of costs. Despite these problems the author of this paper is providing the possible further development of services of the international market. The main conclusions of this paper are concerned with the promotion of the services of the international market and the development of the services’ market. Regarding the development of nowadays services of the market and the possibilities given by it, the author of this paper supposes that the analysis of this subject is relevant both to the policymakers, that are forming the international politics of trade (particularly giving attention to the promotion of the export of the services), and to the enterprisers that are developing their business, and to the investors as well.