International trade

World services exports continued growing robustly, year-on-year, by 10.3%, in the first quarter of 2026. The dollar value of international travel sales grew by 11.8%. Services other than transport and travel - most of which are digitally tradable - witnessed an 11.3% growth. Transport services exports were more sluggish, recording an increase of 4%.

Since the first quarter of 2025, growth of exports of transport has been slower than of other main services categories, possibly reflecting disruptions in major transport routes, particularly in maritime transport. 

In contrast to year-on-year growth, the quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted growth rate of services exports was slightly negative (-0.4%), in the first quarter of 2026, after a 1.6% rise in the previous quarter.

Steady growth in services exports, year-on-year, was recorded in all main regions of the world, in the first quarter of 2026. The highest increase was registered in Europe (+15.0%), followed by Latin America and the Caribbean (+7.7%). In Asia and in Northern America services exports increased by around 5%. In Northern America a slight decline in travel exports (-1.1%) and in Asia a significant contraction of exports of transport (-5.1%) were main dampening factors.

In all regions, services other than transport and travel, most of which are digitally deliverable and hence mainly traded over computer networks, were an important driver behind services exports growth – in Europe, Northern America and Asia mainly due to the size of that sector, in Latin America and the Caribbean rather due to the rapid pace of its growth (+9.5%).