Description:
In the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers
collapse in September 2008, drop in the supply of trade
finance, a critical engine for trade transactions, has
become an acute concern for the development community. Banks
were increasing pricing on trade finance transactions to
cover increased funding costs and higher credit risks, and
trade was dropping drastically in most countries, with
global trade projected to decline in 2009 for the first time
in decades. Yet, little was known about the real impact of
the crisis on developing country s capacity to export. The
World Bank has commissioned a firm and bank survey on trade
and trade finance developments in developing countries
during the first quarter of 2009 to collect field
information. In total, 425 firms and 78 banks were surveyed
in 14 developing countries across five regions. This paper
summarizes the findings of the survey as well as discusses
the type of policies governments and international
organizations put in place to mitigate the impact of the
crisis. In sum, the survey findings confirmed that the
global financial crisis has constrained trade finance for
exporters and importers in developing countries. But the
impact varied by the firm size, sectoral activity, and
countries integration into the global economy. In
particular, SMEs were particularly affected, and export
diversification was made more difficult, especially in low
income countries. Nevertheless, drop in demand has emerged
as the top concern of firms at the time when the survey was
conducted in March-April 2009.