Global growth has continued to soften this year. A modest recovery in emerging market and developing economies continues to be constrained by subdued investment, which is dampening prospects and impeding progress toward achieving critical development goals.

In July 2018, the Government of India imposed a two-year safeguard duty on solar cells and modules, in an attempt to protect domestic manufacturing. This policy brief discusses the impact of that duty on the business prospects of manufacturers.

China’s economic growth has so far remained resilient in the face of high global uncertainty. GDP growth was 6.4 percent year on year in the fourth quarter of 2018 and in the first quarter of 2019, compared to 6.8 percent in the first half of 2018. Growth is projected at 6.2 percent for 2019 and 6.1 percent for 2020.

This report aims to enhance understanding of the implications, capacity needs and enabling conditions for trade liberalization of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs), with focus on developing countries.

After strong growth in 2017 and early 2018, global economic activity slowed notably in the second half of last year, reflecting a confluence of factors affecting major economies. China’s growth declined following a combination of needed regulatory tightening to rein in shadow banking and an increase in trade tensions with the United States.

Growth in developing Asia is projected to soften to 5.7% in 2019 and 5.6% in 2020. Excluding Asia’s high-income newly industrialized economies, growth is expected to slip from 6.4% in 2018 to 6.2% in 2019 and 6.1% in 2020.

A joint World Bank and the International Labour Organization (ILO) report “Exports to Jobs: Boosting the Gains from Trade in South Asia” breaks new ground in examining the impact of exports on local labor markets in South Asia.

During the last decade international trade has been characterized by a progressive shift in the use of trade policy instruments.