Falling import demand and oil prices and other commodities as well as exchange rate fluctuations impacting world economy.

September 30, 2015

3 Min Read
World trade growth projections lowered

World Trade Organization economists have lowered their forecast for world trade growth in 2015 to 2.8%, from the 3.3% forecast made in April, and reduced their estimate for 2016 to 3.9% from 4.0%.

These revisions reflect a number of factors that weighed on the global economy in the first half of 2015, including falling import demand in China, Brazil and other emerging economies; falling prices for oil and other primary commodities; and significant exchange rate fluctuations.

Volatility in financial markets, uncertainty over the changing stance of monetary policy in the United States and mixed recent economic data have clouded the outlook for the world economy and trade in the second half of the year and beyond. 

If current projections are realized, 2015 will mark the fourth consecutive year in which annual trade growth has fallen below 3% and the fourth year where trade has grown at roughly the same rate as world GDP, rather than twice as fast, as was the case in the 1990s and early 2000s. This is still below the average for the last 20 years of 5%.

"Trade can act as a catalyst for economic growth. At a time of great uncertainty, increased trade could help reinvigorate the global economy and lift prospects for development and poverty alleviation. WTO members can help to set trade growth on a more robust trajectory by seizing the initiative on a number of fronts, notably by negotiating concrete outcomes by our December Ministerial Conference in Nairobi," WTO director-general Roberto Azevêdo said. 

Global output is still expanding at a moderate pace but risks to the world economy are increasingly on the downside.  These include a sharper-than-expected slowdown in emerging and developing economies, the possibility of destabilizing financial flows from an eventual interest rate rise by the US Federal Reserve, and unanticipated costs associated with the migration crisis in Europe. 

At the time of our last forecast in April 2015, world trade and output appeared to be strengthening based on available data through 2014Q4. However, results for the first half of 2015 were below expectations as quarterly growth turned negative, averaging -0.7% in Q1 and Q2. Recent trade developments are illustrated in Chart 1, which shows seasonally-adjusted, quarterly merchandise trade indices in volume terms (i.e. adjusted to account for fluctuations in prices and exchange rates) by level of development.  Despite the quarterly declines in the first half of 2015, year-on-year growth in trade for the year to date remains positive at 2.3%.

Trade values in dollar terms have declined in most countries since last year and were down roughly 12% year-on-year in July at the world level. This is partly the result of a strong general appreciation of the US dollar over this period (+15% in nominal effective terms against major currencies according to the Bank for International Settlements). There is generally an inverse relationship between world trade values in current dollar terms and the value of the US currency.

Risks to the forecast are firmly on the downside, the most prominent being a further slowing of economic activity in developing economies and financial instability stemming from  eventual interest rate rises in the United States.

Asian export and import growth for 2015 has been revised down as slower growth in Chinese imports has reduced intra-regional trade.

South American imports have also been revised down sharply but the region's export volume growth should remain positive in 2015 and 2016.

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