World trade had an anaemic start to 2014 according to figures that confirm the faltering state of the global economic recovery six years on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Economists had been hoping for a bounce back in global trade this year to signal that the world economy was finally escaping the shadow of the 2008 financial crisis. The World Trade Organisation has predicted that the return to growth of developed economies such as the US and EU will see trade grow at 4.7 per cent this year, its fastest annual rate since 2010.
But that scenario appears unlikely after the first three months of the year saw the volume of global trade expand just 2.2 per cent from the same period a year ago, according to data compiled by the WTO and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Unctad.