Strasbourg, 25/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - The latest WTO forecasts are somewhat worrying. World trade is expected to suffer its worst contraction in 2009 since 1945 and decline by 9% under the impact of the global economic recession. Contraction will be particularly marked in the developed countries that will decline by 10%, compared to 2-3% for the developing countries. The WTO says this gloomy picture can be explained by the slowdown in economic activity in most of the industrialised world and especially in Asia. Compared to its forecasts for March 2008, the WTO also revised trade progression downward for 2008, from 4.5% to 2% (in 2007, global trade was up by 5.5%). This difference can be largely explained by the unforeseen and very brutal fall in global production during the fourth quarter of 2008 as well as the “unusual synchronisation” of the generalised decline in imports and exports from all economies. These figures give greater force to the repeated calls from WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, who underlines the multiplier effect of the fall in demand on the decline in trade but also the fact that funds for financing trade are exhausted, in favour of keeping open global markets. Warning against the growing recourse to protectionist measures which could be detrimental to the efforts to kick-start the world economy, Mr Lamy called on G20 leaders in the run-up to their summit to take new commitments in favour of free trade. (E.H./transl.jl)