China’s exports of vital parts and components for products ranging from automobiles to cellphones are estimated to have shrunk by an annualized 2% in February, costing other countries and their industries $50 billion, a United Nations agency said on Wednesday.
The world’s second-largest economy - and epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak that has spread to 75 nations - accounts for a fifth of global trade in intermediate products. Many countries rely on its manufacturing inputs, it said.
“There is a ripple effect throughout the global economy to the tune of a $50 billion fall in exports across the world,” Pamela Coke-Hamilton, director of UNCTAD’s division of international trade, told a Geneva news briefing...
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