International trade has dried up as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and could be on course for a collapse as severe as that of the 1930s Great Depression, the World Trade Organization has said.
The Geneva-based WTO, responsible for policing the global trading system, said even the most optimistic scenario for 2020 was that trade would shrink by 13%, a bigger drop than in the 2008-09 recession caused by the banking crisis.
But it warned there was the risk of a much gloomier outcome under which trade would shrivel by 32%, on a par with the reduction seen between 1929 and 1932.
The collapse in global trade during the 1930s was in part due to the protectionist measures imposed by developed countries, and the head of the WTO, Roberto Azevêdo, warned that putting up barriers in response to Covid-19 would make matters worse. » | Larry Elliott | Wednesday, April 8, 2020
