Global trade to shrink by 13% in 2020, says WTO

The World Trade Organization(WTO) reckons that global trade will decline by 13% in 2020 due to the worldwide pandemic.

WTO outgoing Director-General Roberto Azevedo told a recent virtual conference in Brazil that there is a growing concern within the WTO about countries looking inwards. He said concentrating production in a country exposes it to shocks.

Nations, he advised, should diversify sources of supply.

The WTO has been keen to ease global tensions and coordinate responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roberto Azevedo has been Director General of WTO since 2013. He steps down in August, one year before the end of his term which was to end in August 2021.