WTO goods trade barometer flat due to Ukraine war, COVID-19

27 May '22

2 min read

Pic: WTO

The Russia-Ukraine war and recent pandemic-related lockdowns in China appear to be dampening global goods trade in the first half of 2022, according to the latest World Trade Organisation (WTO) goods trade barometer. The reading of 99.0 now is slightly below the baseline value of 100 for the index, suggesting continued slow growth in merchandise trade.

The latest outlook scales back the earlier optimism in the barometer from February, which suggested that trade might have been approaching a turning point, with stronger growth expected in the near future, WTO said in a press release.

The anticipated upturn may have been short-circuited by the conflict in Ukraine, which started in late February and triggered sharp rises in food and energy prices, which tend to reduce real incomes and lower economic growth.

China's imposition of major lockdowns to combat a new outbreak of COVID-19 has further disrupted trade and production.

The barometer index might have risen above trend if some of the underlying data in the component indices had not turned down in March and April.

In April, WTO forecast 3 per cent growth in the volume of world merchandise trade in 2022, down from the 4.7 per cent growth predicted as of last October.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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