Publication: Trade Finance during the Great Trade Collapse
Date
2011-06-22
ISSN
Published
2011-06-22
Author(s)
Abstract
The bursting of the subprime mortgage
market in the United States in 2008 and the ensuing global
financial crisis were associated with a rapid decline in
global trade. The extent of the trade collapse was
unprecedented: trade flows fell at a faster rate than had
been observed even in the early years of the great
depression. G-20 leaders held their first crisis-related
summit in November 2008. The goal was to understand the root
causes of the global crisis and to reach consensus on
actions to address its immediate effects. In the case of
trade, a key question concerned the extent to which a drying
up of trade finance caused the observed decline in trade
flows. This book brings together a range of projects and
studies undertaken by development institutions, export
credit agencies, private bankers, and academics to shed
light on the role of trade finance in the 2008-09 great
trade collapse. It provides policy makers, analysts, and
other interested parties with analyses and assessments of
the role of governments and institutions in restoring trade
finance markets. A deeper understanding of the complexity of
trade finance remains critical as the world economy recovers
and the supply of trade finance improves. The international
community continues to know too little about the fragility
of low income economies in response to trade finance
developments and shocks, as well as about the ability and
conditions of access to trade finance by small and medium
enterprises and small banks in developing countries.
Similarly, there is uncertainty regarding the impact on
trade finance of recent changes in the third Basel
regulatory framework.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Chauffour, Jean-Pierre; Malouche, Mariem. 2011. Trade Finance during the Great Trade Collapse. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2324 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”