TRADE

World Trade Growth Rate Up: The growth rate of world trade increased in 1992 for the first time in four years as North America emerged from recession and major developing countries maintained strong import demand, the world trade group GATT said. In its annual world trade report, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade said the volume of world merchandise trade increased last year by 4.5%, 1.5 percentage points more than in 1991 and the first time since global recession began to bite in 1989 that a slowdown in growth had been reversed. The overall value of trade climbed by 5.5%, reaching $3.7 trillion, while trade in commercial services--including transport, telecommunications, banking and insurance--grew by 8%, reaching $960 billion. GATT said North America (largely the United States) and Asia (excluding Japan) were the highest performing regions for both export and import growth, while major Latin American states and the Middle East showed a strong climb in imports.