Global trade is on track to continue on an upward trajectory in 2022 following a record-high of $28.5 trillion in 2021, and is forecast to remain resilient in the face of the war in Ukraine, soaring inflation and economic uncertainty, according to a report.
The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre’s Future of Trade 2022 report titled A New Era of Multilateralism painted an optimistic picture of how trade is this year expected to weather a multifaceted storm facing governments and businesses. Global trade looks likely to expand by 3 per cent this year, the authors said, lower than the 9.8 per cent growth seen in 2021.
Speaking at the launch of the report at Asia House, London, on Tuesday, Feryal Ahmadi, chief operating officer at DMCC, told The National the expected increase in trade stems from “a new era of multilateralism where countries focus on more regional bilateral agreements and the UAE is actually leading the way here”.
The report outlined how the UAE has 27 potential trade deals in the pipeline.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine inflicted shocks on global supply chains, exacerbated existing stress on commodity markets amid the post-pandemic recovery, drove up oil prices and caused inflation to soar.
Ms Ahmadi said global trade appeared strong enough to overcome such knock-on effects in the months ahead and beyond.
“The Future of Trade report highlighted that trade is resilient,” she said. “If you look at 2021, trade hit a record high at $28.5 trillion and it does predict that trade [growth] might be slower in 2022 but it will nevertheless continue to grow.
“As we say, trade always finds the paths of least of resistance. So small regional agreements through technology, digitalisation, for adoption of sustainability regulations and standards — that is how we can cushion the blow basically of any unforeseen risks on events — and diversification as well.
“The results of the war in Ukraine are across the globe. You see rising oil prices, which impact commodity prices, and that has a knock-on effect on shipping costs, on supply chain challenges. You see soaring inflation as well that is leading to higher interest rates. That in turn leads to tighter financial conditions, which limits import demand for a lot of countries and also limits their ability to export.”
The DMCC laid out recommendations for governments and firms on how to lessen the blow from the geopolitical and economic shocks reverberating around the world. Firms were told they could shield themselves by increasing their focus on economic diversification to support sustainable initiatives against climate-related uncertainty in production.
Increased digitalisation will also go a long way to enable faster customs procedures, the report said.
World leaders were advised to introduce government-guaranteed bank loans to inject cash into supply chains during turbulent times, and make digitalisation a priority to promote greater supply chain efficiency and resilience.
Ahmed bin Sulayem, executive chairman and chief executive of DMCC, said global trade was likely to continue to benefit from the pent-up demand two years after the pandemic took hold, and beyond that there were long-term changes under way that should support cross-border trade including increased regionalism, strength in services trade, innovation, and climate politics.
“There is a joint imperative for the future of trade and the building of more crisis-resilient economies — financing the shortfalls in infrastructure and in trade finance,” he said. “Tackling both in a way that is environmentally sustainable will be crucial. So too will be closing the digital divide between countries and sectors to bring the benefits of global trade to all.”
The UAE is in a strong position to trade with global partners despite the climate of uncertainty, Ms Ahmadi said.
She said Dubai had “proven itself as an international and regional trade hub” and would “lead by example” in areas such as trade finance, innovation, digitalisation and sustainability.
The UAE’s hosting of the Cop28 UN climate change conference in November 2023 will serve as another opportunity for the country to showcase its strong focus on green energy and inspire other global entities, she said.
Alongside potential trade deals, the report also touched on the UAE's strengthening relations with Israel following the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020.
Trade between the UAE and Israel is estimated to have exceeded $1 billion in the first quarter of 2022, the UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Trade Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi told the World Economic Forum in Davos. Ms Ahmadi said an agreement between the two nations could result in the creation of up to 50,000 jobs in the UAE in the next five years.
To achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 the global community has to invest $273 trillion, the report said. The target refers to a call in the Paris Climate Agreement that said to limit global warming to no more than 1.5ºC over pre-industrial levels, emissions would have to be cut by 45 per cent by 2030 and reach net zero by the middle of the century.
MATCH INFO
Southampton 0
Manchester City 1 (Sterling 16')
Man of the match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
RESULTS
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner: Najem Al Rwasi, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)
2.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Fandim, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri
3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Harbh, Pat Cosgrave, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
3.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Wakeel W’Rsan, Richard Mullen, Jaci Wickham
4pm: Crown Prince of Sharjah Cup Prestige (PA) Dh200,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Jawaal, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri
4.30pm: Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup (TB) Dh200,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Racecard
6pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 Group 1 (PA) $55,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
6.35pm: Oud Metha Stakes Rated Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,200m
7.10pm: Jumeirah Classic Listed (TB) $150,000 (Turf) 1,600m
7.45pm: Firebreak Stakes Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,600m
8.20pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 Group 2 (TB) $350,000 (D) 1,900m
8.55pm: Al Bastakiya Trial Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,900m
9.30pm: Balanchine Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,800m
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
RESULT
Huddersfield Town 1 Manchester City 2
Huddersfield: Otamendi (45' 1 og), van La Parra (red card 90' 6)
Man City: Agüero (47' pen), Sterling (84')
Man of the match: Christopher Schindler (Huddersfield Town)
%20Ramez%20Gab%20Min%20El%20Akher
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStreaming%20on%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMBC%20Shahid%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The years Ramadan fell in May
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More on Quran memorisation:
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Leaderboard
15 under: Paul Casey (ENG)
-14: Robert MacIntyre (SCO)
-13 Brandon Stone (SA)
-10 Laurie Canter (ENG) , Sergio Garcia (ESP)
-9 Kalle Samooja (FIN)
-8 Thomas Detry (BEL), Justin Harding (SA), Justin Rose (ENG)
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
