Global trade expected to drop by 18.5% in Q2 due to COVID-19: WTO

WTO "2분기 세계 무역량, 코로나19 여파로 18.5% 급락"The COVID-19 pandemic effect.The World Trade Organization says global trade is expected to decline by 18-point-5 percent on-year in the second quarter.In a separate report, Moody's forecasts G20 economies will contract by 4-point-6 percent this year.Kim Hyo-sun reports.The WTO expects global trade to drop by a whopping 18-point-5 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.In a report released Tuesday,... the global trade watchdog explained that the plunge is largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures that have affected a large share of the global population.However,... it also added the expected plunge was better than the agency's worst-case scenario,... saying the global economy may have bottomed out in the second quarter.Amid the prolonged pandemic,... Moody's Investors Service has trimmed its 2020 growth outlook for the world's major 20 economies.It forecasts G20 economies to contract by 4.6 percent this year,... which is a decline of point-six percentage points from its earlier forecast in April.It has slashed the growth outlook for major European countries,... which were hit the hardest by the pandemic.Moody's forecasts COVID-19 to hurt Britain's economy,... slashing its forecast to minus 10-point-1 percent from its earlier forecast of minus seven percent.It also cut its forecast for France to minus 10-point-1 percent from minus 6-point-3.As for emerging countries,... Moody's cut Brazil's forecast by one percent.It maintained South Korea's growth forecast at minus point-5 percent,... while it estimates China's economy to grow by one percent.In a bid to resolve the economic fallout of the pandemic,... EU leaders are scheduled to hold an in-person summit on July 17th.The 27 national leaders are expected to discuss a 846 billion U.S. dollar emergency fund,... suggested by its executive body.Kim Hyo-sun, Arirang News.