The World Trade Organization (WTO) Friday lowered its growth forecast for global merchandise trade, citing economic slowdown in China and the other major world economies and the unresolved debt crisis in the Eurozone.
The WTO downgraded its outlook for international trade growth to 2.5 percent this year from the previous estimate of 3.7 percent. The forecast for 2013 has been revised down to 4.5 percent from 5.6 percent.
The downgrade reflects the ongoing slowdown in China, which is the world's largest exporter, weaknesses in the national output and the employment market in United States and more importantly the unresolved European sovereign debt crisis.
In developed countries, export volumes are expected grow 1.5 percent this year, slower than the earlier prediction for 2 percent gain. The forecast for export growth in developing countries has been downgraded to to 3.5 percent from 5.6 percent.
Imports are expected to grow at slower rates of 0.4 percent in developed countries and 5.4 percent in developing economies in 2012 than the previously estimated 1.9 percent and 6.2 percent respectively.
"In an increasingly interdependent world, economic shocks in one region can quickly spread to others. Recently announced measures to reinforce the euro and boost growth in the United States are therefore extremely welcome," WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said.
Lamy stressed the need for a renewed commitment to revitalize the multilateral trading system which can restore economic certainty at a time when it is badly needed.
The volume of world trade, as measured by the average of exports and imports, increased a paltry 0.3 percent sequentially in the second quarter, and at an annualized rate of 1.2 percent. The slowdown was drive by strong deceleration in imports of developed countries and by a corresponding weakness in the exports of developing economies, the report said.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Economic News
What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.