April 22, 2005

Explanatory note on the CPB world trade series

This note provides detailed information on the CPB world trade series and gives a comparison of these series with those of international organisations.

The series also play a vital role in the projections of the Dutch economy as the forecast of export market growth has a major influence on the overall projection of the Dutch economy in the short term. The trade series are not only presented in the CPB’s quarterly outlook publications but are also presented in the monthly world trade monitor. Furthermore, the European Commission is using the CPB data to provide information on world trade in its Quarterly Reports on the Euro Area, its Key indicators for the euro area updated before each Eurogroup meeting of the ECOFIN ministers and its semi-annual forecasts. Finally, due to CPB - World Bank cooperation, the world trade data presented in the annual Global Economic Prospect reports of the World Bank and its internal monthly reports on the world economy closely resemble the CPB world trade series.