During a conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the leader of the international trade governing organization said that for now, the WTO is not revising its forecast downward, but a new assessment will be made in April.

According to Okonjo-Iweala, this activity lost momentum in the second half of 2022 and will remain subdued in the year just beginning, as the impacts of multiple conflicts gripping the world economy grow.

Previously, in October 2022, WTO economists forecast a 1.0 percent increase in world merchandise trade volumes for 2023, which was a sharp drop from the previous estimate of 3.4 percent.

According to the latest results of the Barometer on Trade in Services carried out by that organization, the post-pandemic recovery has been held back by the slowdown in growth in the main economies.

Broadly speaking, the volume of world trade in services surpassed its pre-pandemic peak in the second quarter of 2022 and was expected to remain strong in the third and fourth quarters, driven by spending on travel, IT services information and communication (ICT) and financial services.

However, year-end data shows that year-on-year growth in real commercial services began to moderate in the third quarter and slowed further in the fourth, with signs that this will continue into the new year.

ef/lam/att