Trade finance, which supports about 80-90% of global trade, faced a severe shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Risk aversion by banks increased while firms reduced borrowings from lower demand for goods. In its latest global survey of trade finance, ADB estimates the global trade finance gap at $1.7 trillion in 2020, an increase of 15% from its estimate of $1.5 trillion in 2018. Greater economic and financial uncertainties during the pandemic increased transactions costs as well as the likelihood of rejections of applications for trade finance.
Join this webinar to learn more about the impacts of the pandemic on banks’ trade finance provision, including other factors that have hindered their expansion of trade finance. The webinar will also cover results of the differential impacts of trade finance shortages on various firm sizes, the availability of alternative and digital sources of finance for small and medium enterprises, and the policies needed to strengthen the path toward recovery.
To visit the webinar series on accelerating cross-border paperless trade facilitation, please CLICK.