The Bank of Korea(BOK) said that despite recent recovery, it won’t be easy for global trade to enjoy as high a growth as it did before the global financial crisis.
 
The central bank made the prediction in a recent report on global trade outlook, as South Korean exports increased for a fifth consecutive month through last month.
 
In the report, the BOK assessed that global trade that entered a long-term depression in 2012 has accelerating its recovery phase since the second half of last year.
 
The BOK forecast a three-point-one percent growth for global trade this year, up from two-point-two percent growth last year. It said the growth will be even higher next year at three-point-three percent.
 
However the BOK noted that it is still less than half of the annual growth rate international trade had enjoyed before the global financial crisis in 2008, adding global trade grew eleven-point-three percent in 2004 and maintained an average growth of five percent to eleven percent between 2003 and 2007.
 
Pointing to the increasing moves toward protectionist trade around the world, including in the U.S., the BOK said it will not be easy for the global trade to regain its pre-crisis growth momentum quickly.