The World Trade Organisation has raised its forecast for growth in global trade this year to 4.7 per cent, while warning that risks such as the slowdown in developing economies and increasing geopolitical tensions, including in Ukraine, threaten to undermine its recovery.

Several trade economists had expected the WTO to lower its previous 4.5 per cent forecast for this year. In an interview with the Financial Times last week, Roberto Azevêdo, the WTO director-general, said he had yet to detect signs of a significant recovery in global commerce in the first quarter of 2014.

In releasing its latest forecasts yesterday, the WTO said the global recovery, and the upturn in the US and especially Europe, were likely to lead to trade growth that was stronger than expected.