Global trade in services fell 24 percent in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Wednesday. The decline was only slightly higher than the 30 percent drop in the second quarter of 2020, which was in sharp contrast to the strong rebound in goods trade.The data showed that global trade in services in November 2020 was 16% lower than the same period in 2019, with poor prospects for recovery as the second wave of the epidemic led many countries to adopt stricter blockade measures and restrictions on travel and related services will continue into the first quarter of 2021.
The WTO noted that statistics support earlier expectations that the Covid-19 pandemic hit trade in services much harder than trade in goods, with global trade in goods falling by only 5% in the third quarter of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019.Travel continues to be the most affected sector of trade in services, with global travel down by 68% in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. Other sectors of trade in services also saw declines, but computer services bucked the trend and grew by 9%, as global demand for computing services such as cloud computing continues to increase.