MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th August, 2021) The World Trade Organization (WTO)'s leading indicator of goods trade rose to a record high on Wednesday, highlighting the speed of economic recovery after the COVID-19 shock last year.
"The latest barometer reading of 110.4 is the highest on record since the indicator was first released in July 2016, and up more than 20 points year-on-year," the UN agency said in a statement.
All of the barometer's indices were above the trend, including in automotive products. This is despite a bottleneck in semiconductors, which was reflected in a small decline in the electronic components index.
WTO warned that the goods trade indicator was starting to rise at a decreasing pace, with the forward-looking new export orders index slowing down more definitively, in a sign that the pace of recovery will likely decelerate in the near term.
