AKIPRESS.COM - World trade growth is likely to be slower than previously thought in 2018 and 2019, although the direct economic effects of a trade war that has blown up this year have been modest so far, the World Trade Organization said.

The WTO forecast world trade in goods would grow by 3.9 percent this year, less than the 4.4 percent it forecast in April. Next year trade growth of 3.7 percent is expected, a cut from the WTO’s previous forecast of 4.0 percent.

The WTO said in a statement that some of the downside risks it had warned of in April had now materialized.

At the time, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo warned that the robust recovery in global trade, after a decade in the doldrums, could be undermined by a tit-for-tat battle of trade restrictions.