WTO warns against dividing world economy over war in Ukraine
The Hindu
Geneva
The WTO warned Tuesday that Russia’s war in Ukraine had darkened the prospects for world trade as it sounded the alarm against the global economy dividing into rival blocs over the conflict.
The World Trade Organization said the war would damage world trade growth this year and drag down global gross domestic product (GDP) growth as well.
“This is not the time to turn inward,” WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told a press conference at the global trade body’s headquarters in Geneva.
“In a crisis, more trade is needed to ensure stable, equitable access to necessities. Restricting trade will threaten the well-being of families and businesses and make more fraught the task of building a durable economic recovery from Covid‑19.”
The former Nigerian foreign and finance minister said countries and international organisations must work together to facilitate trade amid sharp inflation pressures on essential supplies and growing difficulties for supply chains.
“History teaches us that dividing the world economy into rival blocs and turning our backs on the poorest countries leads neither to prosperity nor to peace,” said Okonjo-Iweala.
The WTO said world GDP, at market exchange rates, is expected to increase by 2.8 percent in 2022 -- down 1.3 percentage points from the previous forecast of 4.1 percent -- after rising 5.7 percent in 2021.
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