WTO bullish on global trade expansion

Geneva: After registering the sharpest decline in more than 70 years, world trade is set to rebound with a growth of 9.5 per cent in 2010, according to World Trade Organization (WTO) economists.

''WTO rules and principles have assisted governments in keeping markets open and they now provide a platform from which trade can grow as the global economy improves,'' said director-general Pascal Lamy.

''We see the light at the end of the tunnel and trade promises to be an important part of the recovery. But we must avoid derailing any economic revival through protectionism,'' he added.

While exports from developed economies are expected to increase by 7.5 per cent in volume terms over the course of the year, shipments from the rest of the world (including developing economies and the Commonwealth of Independent States) are expected to rise by around 11 per cent.

This strong growth, says WTO, should help recover some of the losses registered in 2009, when global recession caused in a 12.2 per cent contraction in the volume of global trade, the largest such decline since World War II.

The economists also pointed ought that if trade continued to expand at its current pace it would take another year for trade volumes to surpass the peak level of 2008.