Available data for the first half of 2013 tend to
confirm that the recent slowdown persists. Data from
the CPB Netherlands B ureau for E conomic Policy
Analysis (CPB) show that the volume of international
trade grew by a year-on-year average of less than
2 per cent in the first five months of 2013. Among
the developed countries exports and imports virtually
stagnated in the United States and fell in the EU and
Japan. Exports from emerging economies decelerated
during the same period, with the exception of those
from the emerging Asian economies, which increased
by 6.2 per cent in the first months of 2013.3