Global Trade to Drop 9% in 2009

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the World Trade Organization’s head, Pascal Lamy said he saw no improvement in global trade in 2009 compared to 2008, and confirmed his forcasted drop of 9 percent in international trade by volume.

With governements pouring money into failing industries, such as the automotive, he hasn’t seen a disruption global trade as of yet.

“Everyone has subsidized their auto sector. From our point of view, which is to make sure that global trade isn’t hampered, no state has acquired for itself an unfair advantage because of these subsidies,” Lamy said.

What Lamy is most concerned about with the drop in global trade is for the developing countries that have been most affected by this decrease. He stressed this point at the last G20 summit in London. WTO needs more initiatives aimed at supporting trade finance, so that global trade remains open to developing countries, who rely on it for economic support.

There is no forecast for global trade in 2010.

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