World trade on track for 9 percent decline

BRUSSELS, March 24 (UPI) -- The volume of world trade will likely fall 9 percent in 2009, the largest contraction in more than 50 years, the World Trade Organization said.

In a report due Wednesday, the WTO predicted German exports could fall 10 percent this year, the EU Observer reported Tuesday.

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said world leaders meeting April 2 in Britain for the Group of 20 summit "will have a unique opportunity to unite in moving from pledges to action and refrain from any further protectionist measure that will render global recovery efforts less effective."

"Trade can be a potent tool in lifting the world from these economic doldrums," Lamy said.

Most developed countries could expect a drop in trade of 2 to 3 percent, the WTO report says.

Lamy said a lack of credit was contributing to trade's downturn.

"The depleted pool of funds available for trade finance has contributed to the significant decline in trade flows, in particular in developing countries," he said to the Observer.

"As a consequence, many thousands of trade related jobs are being lost."