WHILE presenting his interim report on trade developments to the WTO Trade Policy Review Body yesterday, Mr. Pascal Lamy, the Director General, has urged “increased vigilance by all WTO Members” as “protectionist pressures remain and are being generated by stubbornly high levels of unemployment in many countries, persistent global imbalances, and macroeconomic concerns”. Many delegations expressed concern over the recent increase in trade restrictions, and called on the WTO to continue with its regular trade monitoring reports.

Speaking to the delegates Mr Lamy highlighted the reassuring sign that economic growth is returning to most countries. ''However, we must not overlook the fact that the global recovery is still uneven and fragile, and that unemployment remains unacceptably high in some countries. Although developing countries have performed relatively well recently, output growth in developed countries lingers somehow below average. The economic recovery has not been strong enough so far to impact significantly on high levels of unemployment. Moreover, many uncertainties remain and continue to present a serious challenge for the global economy and the multilateral trading system,'' he added.

In addition, new risks have emerged more recently that call for prudence and collective responses particularly in the areas of macroeconomic imbalances, commodity price fluctuations, sovereign debt problems, and geopolitical tensions.