The rejection rate for women entrepreneurs, meanwhile, is 44% compared to 38% for male-owned firms, it said adding providing better access to
trade financing for SMEs and businesswomen will not only narrow the gap but also empower them to contribute to inclusive growth and sustainable development.
Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs witnessed the signing of a
trade financing facility, amounting to US$ 551 million with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a subsidiary of Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, for import of oil and LNG.
With the digitalisation of the sector, however, corporates will no longer be solely reliant on banks for their
trade financing needs.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $350 million in additional funding to expand the scope of a program that bridges gaps in
trade financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
It is increasingly understood that Islamic
trade financing could serve as one of the key drivers to underpin further growth in the Islamic finance industry, which is expected to reach a volume of a whopping $3.8tn by 2022, according to a recent forecast by Thomson Reuters.
They could package trade finance assets and get guarantees from the multilateral
trade financing institutions and they could sell these assets to global banks," said Blyth.
This is a depiction of growth in domestic trade and also indicates that banks are meeting domestic
trade financing requirements better than before.
"With the private sector involved we can add capacity to
trade financing in challenging markets, leverage ADB's own resources, and most importantly, expose the private sector to new markets."
The MoU would focus on opportunities for joint
trade financing in Morocco and elsewhere in Africa in accordance with Shariah principles.
The
trade financing pricing outlook in Mena for 2015 and impact of Expo 2020 on Dubai trade were also highlighted.
As per market estimates, total
trade financing amongst the OIC member countries, including Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Turkey stood just under USD 4 billion in late 2012, the report noted.