Agence France Presse
GENEVA, April 13 (AFP) - Exports of goods from developing countries grew twice as fast as the global average last year, while the overall picture for global merchandise imports was mixed, a WTO report said here Thursday.
Global output and trade strengthened considerably in the second half of 1999, thanks largely to the Asian recovery and continued high demand growth in North America, a preliminary report on trade developments for last year by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said.
"A major factor behind the excellent performance of the United States economy and the unprecedented length of the current expansion has been the high level of investment in information technology, the backbone of the new economy," the report said.
However the report questioned how long high output and demand growth in the US could be sustained without leading to inflationary pressures.
Looking to 2000, global economic output is expected to pick up from three percent in 1999 to about 3.5 percent, while the volume of world merchandise trade growth should reach 6.5 percent, it said.
"Most of this higher growth is expected to come from Western Europe and to a lesser extent from Latin America, the Middle East and the transition economies," the report said.
Growth of gross domestic product of industrial countries could expand by three percent in 2000, while Latin America and the Middle East could see a strong pick-up. Higher growth is also projected for transition and African economies.
Developing countries' merchandise exports expanded by 8.5 percent in 1999 to hold a 27.5 percent share of the global total. Their share of commercial services exports was 23 percent.
North America and Asia saw imports of goods grow at "double-digit rates", stagnate in Western Europe and Africa and decrease by about 10 percent in transition economies and Latin America, excluding Mexico.
Globally, commercial services trade accelerated only slightly last year as recovery in Asia and higher growth in North America were partly offset by lower growth in Western Europe and a contraction of imports in Latin America and the transition economies.
The report highlights sharp differences for merchandise export growth among least-developed countries. Exporters of manufactured goods such as Bangladesh, Cambodia and Haiti expanded exports faster than world trade.
Oil exporters, such as Yemen or Angola, benefited from a rise in oil prices and increased exports by more than one third, but lower export values were recorded by non-fuel commodity exporters.
And global flows of foreign direct investment surged to a new record level of 800 billion dollars driven by an exceptionally large value of cross border mergers and acquisitions, the report showed.:
