The World Trade Organization director-general’s mid-year report on trade-related developments covering mid-October 2021 to mid-May 2022 shows WTO members continued to exercise restraint in imposing trade restrictions.
Speaking at the launch of the report yesterday, DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said it was important not to underestimate the risks generated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact of the war in Ukraine.
"Members understand the importance of keeping markets open and letting trade flow. At the same time, we should clearly not underestimate the risks generated by the pandemic, which is still very much with us, along with the more recent disruptions associated with the war in Ukraine and new diseases like monkeypox that are showing up and which we hope don't also morph into pandemics. The global food security situation is a case in point, and we are keeping a watchful eye on this. High prices for food and fertiliser have been met with export restrictions, even if we know from experience that such measures can make price spikes much worse," she said.
"With respect to the pandemic, the report shows that trade has been central to combatting Covid-19, and that the multilateral trading system has played an instrumental role in encouraging restraint in the use of trade restrictions in response to pandemic-related shocks," she added. "The number of new Covid-19-related measures on goods as well as in services has decreased significantly during the review period and this is clearly positive. But, and I think we all know this far too well, we are not in the clear yet - and where members need to show restraint, as reaffirmed at MC12, the Secretariat needs to continue to monitor."
During the review period covered by the report, the estimated trade coverage of the regular (non-Covid-19-related) import-facilitating measures introduced by WTO members ($603.2 billion) far exceeded the trade coverage of import-restrictive measures ($23.5bn).
A total of 230 new trade-facilitating and 109 trade-restrictive measures were recorded. These include 32 export restrictions (estimated at $69.6bn) and 18 import-facilitating measures ($38.3bn) put in place in response to the war in Ukraine.
The Secretariat's ongoing monitoring shows that since the start of the war in late February, 30 members and observers have introduced 55 measures prohibiting or restricting exports of food, feed, fuels and fertilisers. Of these, 15 measures have since been phased out, but 25 members and observers still have 40 measures in place.
The report highlights that the global economic outlook has deteriorated since February as a result of the war in Ukraine, prompting the WTO to downgrade its forecasts for world trade over the next two years. Its latest forecast of April 12 expects merchandise trade volume growth of 3.0% this year, down from 4.7% in the previous forecast from last October.
During the review period, 37 Covid-19-related measures on goods were communicated by WTO members, primarily amendments of existing measures originally implemented in the early stages of the pandemic or termination of others.
Similarly, the flow of new Covid-19-related support measures by WTO members to mitigate the social and economic impacts of the pandemic has significantly decreased since the second half of 2021.
These are just some of the highlights of the report, which is extensive. The Director-General's full speech to launch the report is available here.
