The global trade finance gap grew to a record 2.5 trillion U.S dollars in 2022 from 1.7 trillion dollars two years earlier, as rising interest rates, flagging economic prospects, inflation, and geopolitical volatility reduced the capacity of banks to deliver trade financing, according to the 2023 Trade Finance Gaps, Growth and Jobs Survey released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday.
The trade finance gap is the difference between requests and approvals for financing to support imports and exports.
According to the survey, rebounding strongly after the COVID-19 pandemic, global goods exports grew in 2021 and 2022 at 26.6 percent and 11.5 percent, respectively. Demand for trade finance surged on the back of this sharp recovery, but heightened economic risks made finance more difficult to secure than before, the survey shows.
Source: tbsnews
