GENEVA: The ongoing confrontation between Russia and Ukraine has taken a toll on the global economy, with expected global trade growth for 2022 falling from 4.7 percent in October to between 2.4 and 3 percent.

The projection was produced by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat in a letter released on Monday. It was based on a worldwide economic simulation model. According to the same estimate, the crisis could reduce global GDP growth by 0.7-1.3 percentage points by 2022, lowering it to between 3.1 and 3.7 percent.

According to the message from the Secretariat, the conflict has driven up food and energy prices, as well as decreased the availability of goods exported by Russia and Ukraine.  According to the memo, Russia and Ukraine are both key exporters of basic products, including food and energy. In 2019, the two countries supplied over 25 percent of global wheat, 15 percent of global barley, and 45 percent of global sunflower product exports. Russia alone was responsible for 9.4 percent of global fuel commerce, including a 20 percent share of natural gas exports.

Russia is a major global supplier of palladium and rhodium, both of which are essential components in the manufacture of automotive catalytic converters. Meanwhile, semiconductor production is heavily reliant on neon imported from Ukraine. The WTO warned that disruptions in the supply of these components might hurt carmakers at a time when the sector is still recovering from a semiconductor scarcity.

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