World merchandise trade rose 4% in volume...

World merchandise trade rose 4% in volume last year to a record value of $2.45 trillion, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade group said in a report. GATT, a worldwide trade agreement and the secretariat that supervises it, predicted that global commerce in export terms should grow at least as rapidly in 1988 despite the “somber background� of recent stock market declines and other concerns. West Germany was the biggest exporter last year at $294 billion, or 12% of the world total, well ahead of the United States, which sold $253 billion of goods, or 10.3%. Japan was third with $229 billion, or 9.3%. The United States was by far the biggest importer, buying around $424 billion of goods, which was 16.6% of the global total of $2.55 trillion.