Wednesday, 8 May 2002

World trade growth slows dramatically

World exports dipped 1% in volume in 2001 and contracted 4% in value to US$ 6 trillion, according to the World Trade Organization's latest report on international trade. For 2002, the WTO's economists predict a moderate recovery of around 1%.

The 4% decline in export value in 2001 was the largest annual decrease recorded since 1982. All three major merchandise product groups — agricultural products, mining products and manufactures — suffered.

WTO reported that commercial services exports slipped slightly by 1.5% to US$ 1.4 trillion, the first year-to-year decline for world exports in commercial services since 1983. The export value of certain commercial services — for example, communications, insurance, financial services, royalties and license fees — rose, but not enough to compensate for the fall in transportation and travel services exports.

For more details see the Inquit Trade Brief available here (PDF file 102kb).

:: 4:50:02 PM       ::

EU adopts a proposal to tax e-commerce

The European Union agreed Tuesday to impose a new tax on products downloaded from the Internet -- including software, videos and music -- aiming to help Europe's Web-based businesses compete with U.S. companies.
:: 4:40:56 PM       ::