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WTO predicts trade growth to slow next year amid crises
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Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, speaks to the media about WTO revised trade forecast during a press conference, at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. - photo by Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP
GENEVA (AP) — The World Trade Organization is predicting global trade volumes will grow a lackluster 1% next year as crises and challenges weigh on markets, including high energy prices, rising interest rates and uncertainties about Chinese manufacturing output amid the lingering COVID-19 pandemic. The Geneva-based trade body said Wednesday that the amount of goods shipped between countries are expected to rise 3.5% this year, up from the 3% that WTO anticipated in its first forecast for the year in April. In 2023, the prediction is for such trade volumes to grow just 1%, down from the 3.4% expected previously.