VINACHEM

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has slashed the global trade growth estimate to 1.7% in 2016, which is the slowest since the 2009 financial crisis gripped the world. The current forecast is below the April forecast of 2.8%.

WTO had also revised down the trade growth forecast for 2017 which was previously expected at 3.6 percent. The current estimate for growth is between 1.8 percent and 3.1 percent.

Decline in commodity prices due to a glut in supply amid low demand as well as sluggishness in the Chinese and European economies are causing the severe fall besides global slowdown.

India will also face the implications of slowing world trade. In the month of August exports of the country fell down by a marginal 0.3 percent and the outbound trade has fallen for a staggering 20 out of 21 months till August. To boost exports, India government had announced additional incentives worth Rs 1,500 crore under the Merchandise Exports Scheme and the number of items covered was also raised from 5,012 to 7,913. - Commodity Online