World trade slowed down in the second half of 2022 and will stagnate in the first half of this year, according to the latest update to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) global trade report.
The conference warns that the outlook for 2023 “remains uncertain given the context of continued geopolitical tensions, inflation concerns, high commodity prices, and the combination of high interest rates and high government debt”.
However, UNCTAD experts suggest that the second half of 2023 will be better for global trade due to the good prospects for the European Union and the United States, which seem to have avoided economic recession.
In addition, the foreseeable weakness of the dollar in 2023 could translate into an increase in demand for traded goods, stresses UNCTAD, which also believes that uncertainty due to disruptions in the global supply chain is now much less than a year ago.
Good performance of green goods in 2022
According to the authors of the report, the value of commercial goods increased by 12.3% and that of services by 15% in 2022, while the joint increase of both was 12.9% compared to last year.
On the other hand, UNCTAD highlighted the good performance of the “green goods” in 2022, when its final value reached US$ 1.9 trillion, 5% more than in 2021.
Among green products, electric and hybrid vehicles grew 25%, non-plastic packaging 20% and wind turbines 10%.
The authors of the report consider these numbers to be “Good news” and anticipate that the world market for “green goods” reach $2.1 trillion by the end of the decade.
Source: EFE
Source: Gestion
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