Trade finance

This publication is the result of a joint effort of the IFC and the WTO and was prepared under the guidance of Susan Lund, Vice President of Economics at the IFC, and Ralph Ossa, Chief Economist of the WTO. Nathalie Louat and Denis Medvedev of the IFC and Marc Auboin of the WTO provided leadership for the research. Marcio Cruz, Maty Konte, Francesca de Nicola, Alexandros Ragoussis and Trang Thu Tran of the IFC and Eddy Bekkers and Alexei Timofti Read More

The expansion of trade depends on reliable, adequate and cost-effective sources of trade financing, which help to fill the time gap during which goods are produced, shipped and paid for. Trade finance is routinely supplied to exporters and importers by banks and other financial intermediaries, which mitigate the financial and payment risk involved in crossborder trade. While developed countries can often rely upon large and advanced economic sectors mo Read More

While conditions in trade finance markets returned to normality in the main routes of trade, the structural difficulties of poor countries in accessing trade finance have not disappeared – and might have been worsened during and after the global financial crisis. There is a consistent flow of information indicating that trade finance markets have remained characterized by a greater selectivity in risk-taking and flight to "quality" customers. In that environme Read More

The paper discusses the efforts deployed by various players, mainly multilateral financial institutions, regional development banks, export credit agencies, to mobilize greater flows of trade finance for developing countries, with a view to help them integrate in world trade. As an institution geared towards the balanced expansion of world trade, the WTO is in the business of making trade possible. Its various functions include reducing trade barriers, nego Read More

This paper reviews a number of initiatives taken by public and private institutions aimed at minimizing the impact of the on-going crisis of the financial sector on its ability to supply trade finance to support trade at affordable rates. In doing so, it draws a few policy lessons. One of them is that a relatively stable segment of the financial industry is now regularly hit by the contagion of financial crises, with potentially very harmful spill-overs on global trade th Read More

The paper studies empirically the fiscal policy instruments by which governments try to influence election outcomes in 24 developing countries for the 1973-1992 period. The study finds that the main vehicle for expansionary fiscal policies around elections is increasing public expenditure rather than lowering taxes, and public investment cycles seem particularly prominent. Institutional mechanisms which constrain discretionary expenditure policies and Read More