If you read the international shipping media during the final quarter of 2022, you would be forgiven for thinking that it’s “Game Over” for international trade.
In TFG’s conversations with industry experts, we have learned quite a lot about trade volumes and commodities, trade technology, and trade credit insurance. While there is plenty of uncertainty regarding the global outlook in 2023, it is clear that there are many areas of optimism for international trade.
ICC Trade Register confirms that for larger banks, credit risk in trade, supply chain, and export finance fall back to pre-pandemic levels.
At ITFA 2022, Trade Finance Global (TFG) spoke to Lucio Lopez, managing partner of one of Brazil’s leading commercial law firms, about how businesses looking to expand into emerging and developing markets like Asia, Africa, or Latin America.
The aim of the strategy – to “make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent” – was always ambitious. The question now is whether the events over the last 30 months have put the targets out of reach.
It is often debated whether the reported existing trade finance gap, which over the last 3 years has oscillated between $100 billion and $120 billion, will diminish or whether the nature of illiquid, growth-focused, emerging market economies means that the gap will never truly close.
The world of credit insurance has seen a multitude of fluctuations in the market, as of late. Whether it be, COVID-19, geopolitical instability, or inflation, these factors have significantly impacted the sector, lowering the appetite for risk.
Trade Finance Global has partnered with UKEF, the UK government’s export credit agency, and DIT to produce the UK Trade & Export Finance Guide.
As global central banks hike rates to rein in inflation, and businesses battle with sourcing goods through choked supply chains exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and Chinese lockdowns, Africa finds itself with a growing problem–accessing US dollar liquidity.
As Iain Martin of the Times said, “To deny the downsides of Brexit on trade with the EU is to deny reality.”
The decision to secede from the world’s largest single market area was bound to have some short-term economic consequences, but the UK may be experiencing more than a short-term decline.
After five days of ‘marathon talks,’ some hard negotiating and plenty of encouragement from Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at MC12, WTO members have managed to secure a historic package of trade deals for member states.
The latest issue of TFG’s Trade Finance Talks, ‘Supply chain disruption: the new global food crisis’ is out now!
Despite port congestion woes, COVID-19 lockdowns in Asia and vessel availability issues, the container shipping sector remains in boom territory. TFG investigates.