In 2014, for the first time since records began and almost certainly for the first time in human history, services, rather than goods, accounted for the bulk of the growth in global trade.
According to data from Unctad, the UN’s trade and development body, ephemeral services such as tourism, entertainment and business services were responsible for 62 per cent of the rise in exports in 2014, and physical goods for just 38 per cent.
The mix was the exact mirror image of 2013, when services’ share of growth was just 38 per cent and manufacturing, 62 per cent. The comparison with the five years to 2011, when services drove just 15 per cent of trade growth, as the first chart shows, is more striking still.
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