WTO dramatically cuts 2016 global trade growth forecast

WTO now estimates that global trade will expand by just 1.7 per cent in 2016, compared to its April projection of 2.8 per cent, and compared to a projection a year ago that trade would swell by 3.9 per cent this year. 

The UN agency also revised down its 2017 forecast, with trade now expected to grow between 1.8-3.1 per cent, down from the previously anticipated 3.6 per cent. “With expected global GDP (gross domestic product) growth of 2.2 per cent in 2016, this year would mark the slowest pace of trade and output growth since the financial crisis of 2009,” WTO said in a statement.