This Tuesday, the director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, reported that problems in the global supply chain “can last for several months” due to a mismatch between supply and demand, as well as a shortage of containers.
The official told the Financial Times that the economic stimuli that many countries have injected to overcome the paralysis of the pandemic have contributed to skyrocket consumer demand.
“When I talk to businessmen, there is some panic about the impact this year on the supply chain,” he said, noting that shipping companies had not anticipated the strength of the post-pandemic economic recovery.
“They reduced the availability of containers and stored them (during the pandemic) in the wrong places, so now there are not enough,” he added.
Likewise, from the WTO they point out that the differentiated vaccination rates have created “a two-level global recovery”, which aggravates friction in global trade flows.
Okonjo-Iweala recalls that rich countries have already vaccinated more than 50% of their population and applied billions of dollars in fiscal stimuli, thus “they are on a better path to recovery than the poorest countries.”
Finally, regarding the possibility of a trade war between the United States and China and its impact on global growth, the WTO director believes that “when listening to the rhetoric of both countries, a lack of coupling can be perceived, but the evidence that we see on the ground with respect to trade does not support that theory ”.
He further considers that even if the great powers tried to reduce their mutual commercial dependence, they would encounter difficulties. “It is not so easy to dismantle supply chains, in many products they are enormously complex,” he said.
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