Global trade growth in 2021 is expected to be 16% compared to last year, said in a report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

In the second half of 2021, significant growth is expected in trade: according to forecasts, it will be about 16% compared to the low point of 2020, including an increase of 19% in trade in goods and 8% in services, experts said.

It noted that despite the economic turmoil due to COVID-19, global trade has fared relatively well in 2020 overall. 

This result was driven in large part by the resilience of the East Asian economies, which quickly succeeded in combating the pandemic and thus capitalized the growth in demand for products related to COVID-19 activities.

In the first quarter of 2021, global trade grew by about 10% year on year. As a result, the indicators of the first quarter of 2019 were also surpassed by 3%. The jump in global trade in the first three months of 2021 was driven by a significant increase in exports to East Asian countries. China, India, and South Africa have performed better than other major economies, the report said.