APEC ECONOMIES REPORT IMPROVEMENT IN TRADE FINANCE SITUATION

By Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, Nov 9 (Bernama) -- The trade finance situation among the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) economies has eased further since July,
according to a survey conducted by Singapore recently.

The findings of the survey which was presented to the Apec senior officials
meeting (SOM) here today showed 12 out of 19 Apec economies surveyed saw an
improvement in the trade finance situation since July.

The APEC Trade Finance Survey was the second one conducted by Singapore as
Apec SOM chair between October and November this year.

The first survey, conducted over June to July this year, found that Apec
economies had expected the trade finance situation to improve over the next six
months although the situation bore watching given uncertain credit conditions.

The second survey provides an indication of how the current trade finance
situation has changed across Apec economies since the first survey.

In particular, 12 out of the 19 surveyed economies, compared to nine out of
18 surveyed economies from the earlier survey, thought there was no trade
finance problem, or that the problem was not serious.

The increased risk aversion of financial institutions towards companies
remained the most commonly cited reason for tightness in trade financing but
general liquidity shortage in the economy was now less of a problem compared to
July.

The 12 out of 19 economies expressed optimism that the trade finance
situation in APEC economies would ease over the next six months.
-- BERNAMA