China expected to be main driver of global economic growth: UN Agency

The country exported over 4.61 trillion yuan ($706 billion) in goods and services from January to March, up 38.7 percent from a year earlier, data of National Bureau Statistics showed.

However, uneven and imbalanced economic recovery has become a problem, the report noted, especially among developing countries and those economies in transition, the Middle East, South Asia and Africa.

Looking forward, the UN report projected that trade will continue to grow in 2021, with total volume reaching $6.6 trillion in the second quarter.

But the positive outlook is largely dependent on lifting pandemic restrictions, maintaining positive trend in commodity prices, overall restraints from trade protectionist policies and supportive macroeconomic and fiscal conditions, said the report.

"Nevertheless, fiscal stimulus packages, particularly in developed countries, are expected to strongly support the global trade recovery throughout 2021," the report emphasized, "the value of global trade should also rise due to positive trends across commodity prices."