Geneva, April 12:

The growth in global trade could ease off this year under the impact of a forecast slowdown in the world economy caused by uncertainty among investors, the World Trade Organisation WTO) said today.

The growth in goods trade could slow down to about six per cent in 2007, about two percentage points less than last year, the WTO said in a preliminary report on world trade and economic prospects for the year ahead.

“Trade growth reached eight per cent in 2006, accelerating by two percentage points over 2005,” it added.

The global trade body’s director general Pascal Lamy said the uncertainties and risks ahead should act as a spur for all players in the global economy to work for a successful conclusion of the deadlocked Doha round of trade liberalisation talks.

“The best contribution the WTO can make is to keep strengthening the multilateral trading system,” Lamy said. “A successful conclusion to the Doha Round holds great potential for boosting growth and alleviating poverty.”

The WTO report said greater risks of a downturn in financial and property markets and large current account imbalances were fuelling investor uncertainty. “The consensus among forecasters favours a moderate deceleration in world economic growth in 2007,” it added.

However, economic fundamentals in the major economies are strong enough to keep global growth in gross domestic product (GDP) close to three per cent, compared to 3.7 per cent last year, the report underlined.

The US is likely to bear the brunt of the slowdown of GDP growth, while any European let-up was likely to be less pronounced.

Japan could avoid a slowdown in growth altogether, the report stated. In such a scenario, developed economies could maintain their average GDP growth at 2.5 per cent in 2007.

“The modest slowdown is likely to have an impact in the developing world, although economies there remain set to grow at twice the rate of their developed counterparts,” the WTO said.

“The slowdown in industrial markets is likely to contribute to less dynamic growth in the developing world the most likely scenario is that GDP growth in 2007 will slow down in all regions,” the global trade body said.

The Leaders

Exporters

1. Germany — $1.112t

2. US — $1.037t

3. China — $969b

4. Japan — $647b

5. France — $490b

Importers

1. US — $1.92t

2. Germany — $910b

3. China — $792b

4. Britain — $601b

5. Japan — $577b