MANILA – The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has triggered a decline in global trade value by 3 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) data.
The report by the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) attributed the lower value in global trade to falling commodity prices mainly due to plummeting world oil prices.
The declining crude prices in the world market are caused by uncertainties brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has infected over 4.26 million individuals and has killed more than 292,000 worldwide.
“Global merchandise trade volumes and values were showing modest signs of recovery since late 2019 when the global economy was hit by the measures taken to contain the Covid-19 pandemic,” UNCTAD said in the report.
Many countries have implemented lockdowns that suspended many economic activities.
In the Philippines, Metro Manila and other parts of the country have been placed under enhanced community quarantine for two months until May 15.
But the UNCTAD forecasted that global trade value will further drop in the second quarter of the year.
“Most of the impact of these measures, however, will affect global trade in the second quarter of the year, with an estimated quarter-on-quarter decline of 26.9 percent,” it added.
“Everywhere, governments are pressed to make post-Covid-19 recovery decisions with long-lasting consequences,” UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi said in a statement Wednesday.
With the restriction in business operations during a lockdown, global manufacturing output further fell in the first two months of the year.
UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) reported to the CCSA that global industrial production indices in January declined to 103 and to 102.6 in February this year. These were lower compared with the December 2019 index of 114.2.
UNIDO said the drop in global manufacturing production in the first two months of the year can be attributed to the industrial output slowdown in China, a manufacturing powerhouse and also the origin of the new coronavirus.
China’s industrial production index in January dropped to 99.8 from 134 in December 2019. It slightly recovered in February at 100.3.
Factories in China were closed for two weeks starting the Chinese New Year in its government’s bid to contain the Covid-19.
In the same report, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said the pandemic has shocked the labor markets with the biggest employment decline since World War II.
“Halt in activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic had an immediate and sweeping impact on employment. Global hours worked could drop by 10.5 percent this quarter, equivalent to 305 million full-time workers with a 48-hour workweek,” ILO said.