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Impact of Covid-19 on the global trade of Commonwealth countries

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Impact of Covid-19 on the global trade of Commonwealth countries

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Commonwealth countries such as Africa, the United Kingdom, Canada have forecasted economic as well as financial disruptions because of the lockdowns, restrictions in travel as well as barriers in trade during the pandemic. The international trade flows have been prevented as well as affected between both the supply as well as demand channels (Commonwealth.org, 2021) It has been observed that Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted trade in almost 54 commonwealth countries including Africa.

It has been observed that Saudi Arabia, Russia are good at exporting oil, hence, the global economic shock has disrupted their business greatly. It is noted that the economies of commonwealth countries have almost collapsed by 10 % in the year 2020 (Commonwealth.org, 2021).

For example, in India, the GDP decreased by 5%, Netherlands faced a decrease in GDP of 3.7 % while Germany experienced a fall in GDP by almost 4.9% (Commonwealth.org, 2021). From figure 2, it is noted that global export has decreased to almost “US $3.4 trillion in 2020”. In addition, the “intra commonwealth exports have decreased to almost “US $ 641 billion in 2020.

It has been observed that the prospects of trade recovery is observed in the trade of goods but the services trade remained unchanged after the pandemic. As argued by Masipa (2018), the “strong export performance” of countries such  as Africa, the UK and many more have increased the growth in trade. In addition to this, the “World Trade Organisation (WTO)” has provided supportive frameworks as well as incentives to the commonwealth countries for the trade recovery (publications.parliament.uk, 2018).

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Commonwealth gives durability as well as flexibility to the economic as well as a financial crisis and enhances the prosperity of the citizens greatly. According to Estrinet al. (2018), sources of future growth which have been identified are "traditional sources of money". It has been observed that the traditional sources include collecting money from taxes as well as the aid of development from various countries. Countries such as Botswana, Namibia have populations of less than 1.5 million. Hence, the Commonwealth provides economic assistance to such countries by arranging funds from the other developed states as well as arranging the “Commonwealth Finance Minister Meetings”.

In addition, the Commonwealth has undertaken various projects in countries such as Geneva, Kenya so that trade competitiveness is provided for future growth. For example, projects like “The Caribbean Community Project” as well as “The East African Community Projects” are undertaken to provide financial support for the growth in trade (Unctad.org, 2021). “The International Trade Policy” has been undertaken so that Commonwealth countries are fully prepared for both “bilateral as well as multilateral” trades. According to Estrin et al. (2018), the productivity of commonwealth countries is argued to be increased by incorporating better technology as well as innovations in their policy structures. As stated by Packard and Bylund (2018), reallocation of resources in the future upon the innovations as well as technological ground will increase the economic growth of the countries effectively. It has been observed that Africa is infested with various resources including industries, educational sectors, and many more.

According to the reports, the GDP of Africa has been increased by almost "3.4%" in 2021. However, it is expected that the growth rate of Africa will increase "453.6 billion US $" in 2022 (Afdb.org, 2021). The economic growth of Africa will be mainly because of the renewal in tourism industries as well as an increase in the prices of commodities. In addition, the "on-off trade deals" between the UK and the USA have provided an opportunity to put strong legislation upon the Brexit Government (Foreignpolicy.com, 2020). This enhanced the commonwealth country to increase its international trade flows to a great extent after the recession. It has been observed that the GDP of the UK (a commonwealth country) has increased to almost "3108.42 billion US $" in 2021, while it was almost "2709.68 billion US $" during the pandemic (Statista.com, 2021).