WTO warns trade finance 'deteriorating' amid crisis

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GENEVA, Nov 13 (AFP): The World Trade Organisation (WTO) warned yesterday that the financing of global commerce is "deteriorating" amid the financial crisis and the situation is likely to worsen over the coming months.
"The market for trade finance has severely deteriorated over the past six months, and particularly since September," WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy told ambassadors of the organisation's 153 members following a meeting with trade experts and bankers.
"The situation is likely to deteriorate further in the months to come," Lamy said.
He estimated the shortfall in cash to finance world trade at about 25 billion dollars.
He was speaking after a meeting at the WTO's headquarters here with experts and representatives from top banks involved in trade finance-but without the presence of key invitees such as the heads of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss- Kahn.
Representatives from key banks active in the field of trade finance such as HSBC, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland and Commerzbank did attend the meeting, WTO sources said.
Armando Mariante Carvalho of the Brazilian national development bank (BNDES) said the meeting touched on all aspects of the financial crisis and its impact on trade.
Lamy said last month that the WTO could act as a model of how to regulate anew the global financial system in the wake of the crisis that has seen Wall Street titans humbled and unprecedented levels of state intervention in the banking sector.
Lamy reiterated his call for the WTO's members to finally conclude the Doha round of trade liberalisation talks which have made scant progress since they were launched in the Qatari capital seven years ago.