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GENEVA - Growth in international trade will remain strong in 2007 although it will slip to 6 per cent from 8 per cent last year as global economic expansion slows, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said today.
In their first forecast for 2007, WTO economists said the outlook was based on expectations that the world economy would expand some 3 per cent this year, below last year's 3.7 per cent.
World trade growth in 2006 was above the previous WTO forecast for 7 per cent and the second highest figure since 2000, reflecting stronger than expected economic growth in Japan and Europe, the Geneva-based trade body said in a report.
Developing countries' share of world trade rose to a record 36 per cent, with China's trade growth continuing to outstrip all others, it said.
In the second half of 2006, China's exports of goods exceeded those of the United States for the first time, although for the year as a whole it stayed third in the rankings.
Germany remained the world's number one exporter of goods, although on current trends China could seize top spot in 2008, according to WTO economists, who had long predicted such a development by 2010.
- REUTERS
