The trade situation in 2007

Growth in world output and trade decelerated in 2007. Weaker demand in the developed economies reduced global economic growth to 3.4 per cent from 3.7 per cent, roughly the average rate recorded over the last decade. At some 7 per cent, growth in the developing regions was nearly three times the rate recorded in the developed regions and the contribution of the developing countries to global output growth in 2007 exceeded 40 per cent. Economic expansion in the least-developed countries fully matched the growth rate recorded by developing countries as a group in 2007, sustaining a pattern that has been maintained since 2000.