Trade volumes may rebound “quite quickly” when the global economy recovers, and US exports are likely to rise first and buoy worldwide flows, the head of the International Monetary Fund said yesterday.

“Trade can start up quite quickly, as quickly as growth, once the recovery starts in developed countries,” IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told an aid-for-trade meeting.

Countries need to be ready to take advantage of an eventual renewed appetite for export products, he said in Geneva. “Trade policies need to be already developed.” – (Reuters)