A United Nations report stated that the October-December quarter of 2024 saw better trade expansion between India and China. The report also warned of ‘probability of economic recession’ globally in the next quarter. The latest global trade updates released by the United Nations Trade and Development Conference (UNCTAD), including figures until early March, states that global trade will increase by about $ 1,200 billion or 9 percent to $ 33,000 billion in 2024. The report said, “Developing countries, especially China and India, expanded better than average, while trade declined in many developed countries.”
Trade between China and India remained strong
It states that strong trade pace between China and India will be seen in the fourth quarter of 2024. The fourth quarter of 2024 saw a mixed trend in trade among major economies. Trade between China and India, especially export, continued to grow. In contrast, export growth in South Korea slowed down, although it was the highest among major economies on an annual basis. Import growth in the US in the fourth quarter of 2024 became positive, while export growth declined. For Japan, Russia, South Africa and the European Union, the trend of import increase on quarter and annual basis was negative.
Increase in imports
The report said that in the fourth quarter of 2024, India recorded an increase of 8 percent in goods trade and 6 percent increase in annual imports. Whereas quarterly export growth in goods was 7 percent and annual export growth was 2 percent. Service trade will continue to increase in the fourth quarter of 2024. However, it was a slower speed compared to the annual figures. This shows that positive tendency in service trade for most economies may remain stable. The growth of service business in India and South Africa was strong. On an annual basis, the growth of service trade for many major developing economies has reached double digits. While it was at a very high level for most developed economies. The report said that India registered a quarter import increase of seven percent as compared to the previous quarter in the fourth quarter and the annual import increase in services was 10 percent. While quarterly export growth was three percent and annual export growth in services was 10 percent.
