182
Trade Finance during the Great Trade Collapse
Figure 10.7 Constraints on Bank-Intermediated Trade Finance, by Country Is your bank still imposing more stringent credit eligibility criteria for trade finance transactions?
percentage of respondents
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
e in ra
ey
Uk
rk
sia
Tu
ni
a ric
h
So
ut
Tu
Af
in
es
ru ili Ph
t, yp Eg
pp
a ny
Pe
a Ke
di In
Ar
Ch ile ab Re p. G ha na
0
country of respondent firms no
yes
Source: Author’s data from April 2010 firm survey. Note: Number of respondents = 223.
as Chile. Regulatory issues—such as Basel II—remain a concern and have reportedly affected the degree of exposure banks can assume in a given transaction.
Other Bank and Firm Survey Findings Other recent bank and firm surveys indicate a recovery in the trade finance market as a result of the recovery in trade, but access to bank trade finance remains difficult for small firms. An April 2010 survey of 93 major banks in 53 countries indicated an improvement in the trade finance market compared with previous surveys conducted in March and July 2009 (IMF-BAFT 2009; IMF and BAFT–IFSA 2010). The results of an April 2010 International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) survey of 161 banks in 75 countries were somewhat less sanguine. It reported that the supply of trade finance remained constrained in both value and volume: 60 percent of respondents indicated that the value of trade finance activity