The World Trade Organization(WTO) has forecast that global merchandise trade volume will slip 18-and-a-half percent on-year in the second quarter. 

The organization made the projection on Tuesday, based on initial estimates for the second quarter when COVID-19 and associated lockdown measures affected a large share of the global population.  

The projected drop is sharper than the three percent year‑on‑year decrease posted in the first quarter.  

The organization also forecast that trade expansion could fall short of its annual forecast issued earlier in April due to adverse developments, including a second wave of the outbreak, weaker than expected economic growth, and widespread recourse to trade restrictions.  

Earlier in April, the WTO had set out two plausible paths in its trade projection: a relatively optimistic scenario in which the volume of world merchandise trade in 2020 would contract by 13 percent, and a pessimistic scenario in which trade would fall by 32 percent.