On 31 July 2018 the World Trade Organisation (WTO) issued its World Trade Statistical Review 2018. This looks at developments in world trade and analyses trade in goods and services.

The review shows that in 2017 there was stronger growth in world merchandise trade than in the previous six years measured by both volume and value. There was a ratio of trade growth to GDP growth of 1.5, higher than in previous years and close to the historic average. The expansion of trade was driven by stronger economic growth especially in developing economies.

Imports by developing countries increased by 13% while developing country exports grew by 12%, and represented a share of 43% of world trade. More than half of their trade was with other developing countries and the amount of developing country trade in manufactured goods rose.

The merchandise exports of the least-developed countries (LCDs) increased 13 per cent in the year but their share of world trade remains less than 1%. Increased trade and economic growth by these LDCs has helped to support poverty alleviation, advancing progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals but there is clearly much more progress still to be made.

However the recent increase in trade tensions could endanger the recovery of world trade and has implications beyond just the countries directly involved in the disputes. This would have consequences for the whole world economy. The WTO has been working to strengthen the trading system and help the members resolve their differences.

The 2018 edition of the report includes some new work in international trade statistics. The WTO emphasizes the importance of statistics in monitoring trends in world trade. Later in 2018 experimental datasets on bilateral trade in services with the OECD and in trade in services analysed by mode of supply will allow more useful estimates to be made on trade in areas where hard statistics are not available.

There are also ongoing initiatives to improve the measurement of digitally-enabled and digitally-delivered transactions. The WTO and OECD are working on a Handbook on Measuring Digital Trade that will be ready towards the end of 2018.