GLOBAL TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT

 The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD)was established in1964 with the objectives of promoting trade in both primary and manufactured goods, development financing, technology transfer and economic cooperation among developing countries. UNCTAD's2023 report on   Trade and Development  focussed  on themes of  :"Growth ,Debt , Climate-Realigning and Global Financial Architecture", it has projected only a low   growth of 2.4 % in 2023 and outlook for 2024 suggested a modest improvement to 2.5 %  assuming factors like recovery in Euro area and lack of major disturbances in leading economies.Report has identified three specific Global challenges namely weak Global growth, divergence between major and developing countries and increased geopolical factors . Global economy is experiencing fragility and uneven global recovery due to 1.diverging recovery paths,in the context of slower growth across major regions.2.Deepening assymetries in income and wealth 3.Growing intedebtedness of developing economies.While many economies will grapple with divergent recovery path,deepening inequalities and mounting pressures of indebtedness, global growth is not likely to rebound sufficiently as desired to pre pandemic levels. On the other hand the ability of developing  economies to accelerate growth, strengthen productive capacities decarbonise and meet their financial obligation is basically dependent on steady and strong demand. Development also requires favourable external environment consisting of robust global demand ,stable  exchange rates and affordable financing.

UNCTAD observed that international trade and related power assymetries have led to deterioration of labour income shares. Further unilateral shifts in industrial policies are generating taxes among trading partners hampering prospects for structural transformation in developing countries. Global financial conditions are rapidly deteriorating placing at least one third of frontier market economies on the verge of debt distress. In this context UNCTAD proposed building a new consensus for international trade which can better accommodate policy priorities such as building resilient supply chains, achieving a just energy transition, delivering decent jobs,tackling both corruption and corporate tax avoidance in addition to developing a secure digital infrastructure.Revisiting international trade agreements to create policy space for countries to redesign their production consumption and trading profiles to combat contemporary global challenges are also required. Other  measures suggested include strengthening South - South trade cooperation revitalizing  Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) etc which can be effectively implemented  along with establishing effective debt restructuring mechanism. 

In the context of Russia Ukraine conflict world have experienced crisis due to food and commodities  shortages and resultant corporate profiteering. If  we examine international regulatory agenda the stark contrast between the surging profits of commodity trading giants and widespread food insecurity of millions undersores the  troubling reality.Consequently  unregulated activity within the commodity sector contribute to speculative price increases and market instability exacerbating global food crisis. Cascading crisis led to speculative prices in commodities sector and market volatility exacerbating the global food crisis further. Reforming the International Financial Architecture (IFA) is another crucial issue discussed by UNCTAD report. International financial Architecture is a framework of institutions, policies, rules and practices that govern the global financial system. The aim is to promote international cooperation with a view to ensure long run global monetary and financial stability enabling free and fair international trade and investment. Supporting mobilisation of the stable and long-term financing is required for economic development, combating climate crisis and achieving Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs).The new proposals are broadening the scope of institutional experimentation and may give rise to more participatory global financial governance. On the contrary growing trade and financial imbalances would impact more heavily on developing countries. In short the challenges of the international financial  system and balance of Payments constraints pushed developing countries towards increasing their indebtedness, adopting financial liberalisation with exposure to global financial cycles. Moreover the assymetry between growing corporate consolidation and thinning fiscal space needs to be addressed by revisiting dominant economic paradigms,and critically policy decisions based on the growing concentration of market power by large corporations and the influence of high net worth individuals to reduce the ability to raise tax revenue. In fact the new phase of globalization is marked by rampant inequality both within and between countries, premature deindustrialisation with depressive stagnation in employment and lack of resilience in the international system with trade and investment lagging behind.