Global Trade Slows As China’s Numbers Fall
Growth in global trade is slowing sharply, due largely to China’s falling numbers.
Research company Oxford Economics says world trade is expected to grow just 2.6 percent this year, down from four percent last year and around half its long-term average pace.
Economist Adam Slater notes the projected pace of growth looks “more akin to that seen in world recessions than a period of recovery.”
Whereas China added about 0.5 percentage points a year to the global trade in goods between 2012 and 2014, it subtracted roughly 0.7 percentage points in the first quarter of this year.
That’s the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis that China has detracted from world trade growth.
Korea’s export figures for May also posted a 10.9 percent decline, falling for the fourth straight month and marking the first double-digit slide in six years.
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