WTO Says Goods Trade Surging Past Pre-pandemic Level

Resurging global economic activity has lifted merchandise trade above its pre-pandemic peak, the World Trade Organization said Monday as it upgraded its 2021 and 2022 trade forecasts

Geneva, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Oct, 2021 ) :Resurging global economic activity has lifted merchandise trade above its pre-pandemic peak, the World Trade Organization said Monday as it upgraded its 2021 and 2022 trade forecasts.

Supply-side issues such as semiconductor scarcity and port backlogs may strain supply chains, but are unlikely to have large impacts on global aggregates, WTO experts said.

They said the biggest downside risks came from the coronavirus crisis itself, with the strength of the recovery from Covid-19 now dependant upon more equitable access to vaccines, with some countries starved of doses while others offer booster shots.

"The WTO is now predicting global merchandise trade volume growth of 10.

8 percent in 2021-- up from 8.0 percent forecasted in March -- followed by a 4.7 percent rise in 2022," up from four percent previously, the global trade body said.

The strong annual growth rate for merchandise trade in 2021 is mainly due to the collapse in 2020, when trade bottomed out in the second quarter.

The rate is expected to moderate as merchandise trade returns to the long-term trend it was on before the Covid-19 crisis struck.

"Trade has been a critical tool in combatting the pandemic, and this strong growth underscores how important trade will be in underpinning the global economic recovery," said WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.