World edging into global recession: WTO chief

The World Trade Organization’s chief said Tuesday she believes the world is heading toward a global recession due to multiple colliding crises and called for radical policies to revive growth.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said Russia’s war in Ukraine, the climate crisis, food price and energy shocks plus the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic were creating the conditions for a world recession.

“Now we have to weather what looks like an oncoming recession,” she told the opening of the global trade body’s annual public forum in Geneva.

“I think a global recession. That’s what I think we are edging into. But at the same time, we have to start thinking of recovery. We have to restore growth.”

She noted that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund had both downgraded global growth forecasts, while indicators on trade numbers were “not looking too good”.