Global trade growth is expected to plummet by up to a third in 2020 due to the new coronavirus pandemic, the World Trade Organization said Wednesday, adding the numbers would be “ugly”.
“World trade is expected to fall by between 13 percent and 32 percent in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts normal economic activity and life around the world,” the WTO said in a statement.
The pandemic could provoke the deepest recession in living memory, World Trade Organization chief Roberto Azevedo also warned.
“As we face what may well be the deepest economic recession or downturn of our lifetimes, we should aim to make the most of all potential drivers of sustainable growth to reverse this situation,” he told a virtual news conference in Geneva.
AFP