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The latest ‘Global Trade Outlook and Statistics’ report of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will be released today in Geneva. A formal press conference will take place at the WTO headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday afternoon in this connection.
In the last month, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released Key Statistics and Trends in International Trade 2023 and Global Trade Update (March 2024).
The WTO report will supplement these two reports with elaboration and analyses of recent global trade developments up to the fourth quarter of 2023. It will also unveil the organisation’s forecasts for world trade in 2024 and 2025.
Breakdowns of merchandise and commercial services trade by sector and region are provided, together with details on leading traders.
UNCTAD reports showed that the value of the global merchandise trade declined by 5 per cent in 2023 while the trade in services increased by 8 per cent. These also showed added that during 2023, trade of developing countries and South-South trade performed worse than global averages.
The WTO report is also timed to coincide with the release of the WTO’s latest quarterly and annual trade statistics, which can be downloaded from the WTO’s online database at stats.wto.org.
The WTO is the international body dealing with the global rules of trade between the organisation’s members. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible, with a level playing field for all its members.