Banks participating in trade finance programme reach 13

NIB Bank and Soneri Bank latest to join ADB’s facility.

ISLAMABAD:

Two more Pakistan banks have signed up to the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) trade finance programme (TFP), which is likely to make it easier for companies to import critical goods into the country and export other products.

Participation of NIB Bank and Soneri Bank in TFP means there are now 13 Pakistani banks signed up to the programme.

TFP provides finance and guarantees through banks to support trade transactions in developing countries. Companies and banks in emerging markets often face difficulties accessing trade finance, which undermines trade and slows economic growth and job creation.

Last year, TFP supported $2.76 billion in trade in emerging Asia. Pakistan’s share of that was $832.6 million, the highest among ADB’s developing member countries. TFP focuses its resources on Asian countries in need of trade finance support, and therefore, does not assume risk in relatively developed markets such as China, India, Malaysia and Thailand.

“By expanding the reach of the programme in the Pakistani banking sector, we will help make trade finance available, where necessary, to an even wider array of firms, including small and medium-sized enterprises,” said Robert van Zwieten, Director of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department that oversees TFP.

Smaller firms typically have more trouble than larger well-known companies in accessing trade finance from banks due to a limited credit history or banks’ preference to lend to known customers.

“Further expanding TFP’s coverage in Pakistan will be a way to keep the country firmly on the road to sustainable economic recovery,” said ADB Pakistan Resident Mission Country Director Rune Stroem.

TFP has provided an array of support for trade in Pakistan, in addition to general trade finance and offers guarantees to support oil import. In the immediate aftermath of extensive floods in 2010, ADB implemented a special $500 million flood relief facility for Pakistan to help companies import basic commodities, such as food, medicine and capital equipment for agriculture and infrastructure reconstruction.

Through its partnerships with over 200 banks around the world, ADB has supported $5.2 billion in trade since TFP started operating in 2004, $2 billion of it in Pakistan. As well as providing finance, the programme also helps bolster links between banks in emerging markets and big international banks. In the longer term, these can reap rewards by embedding the region’s banks into the global banking community, making business easier.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2011.