WTO Upgrades Forecast for 2017 as Trade Rebounds Strongly

WTO economists have issued a strong upward revision to their forecast for 2017 trade expansion following a sharp acceleration in global trade growth in the first half of the year.

The estimate for growth in world merchandise trade volume in 2017 was raised to 3.6%. The previous estimate for 2017 was 2.4%, though this was set within a range of 1.8%-3.6%, reflecting the high level of economic and policy uncertainty. 

The new estimate puts the focus on the top end of that range. Growth of 3.6% would represent a substantial improvement on the lacklustre 1.3% increase in 2016… Stronger growth in 2017 was attributed to a resurgence of Asian trade flows as intra-regional shipments picked up and as import demand in North America recovered after stalling in 2016…

This was excerpted from 21 September 2017 press release by the WTO.