Global trade helped reduce extreme poverty, inequality: WTO

A new World Trade Organisation (WTO) report has stated that global commerce has played a critical role in reducing extreme poverty from 40pc to 11pc. Global trade has created “shared prosperity” since the WTO was created in 1995, the report said, while calling for supportive policies to “mainstream more economies” and people across the globe. The World Trade Report 2024, released on Monday, said the world had witnessed a period of unprecedented income growth. “Between 1995 and 2023, global per capita income, adjusted for inflation, increased by approximately 65 per cent, while the per capita income of low-and middle-income economies almost tripled.” This “impressive economic growth” significantly contributed to reducing poverty, malnutrition and infant mortality, and improved access to education, healthcare and electricity.