United Nations
Transport and trade connectivity in the age of pandemics
The surveys prepared by ESCWA targeting banks, firms and policy makers are aimed at gauging the conditions for trade financing in the region particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey for policy makers is meant to understand the scale of success in relation to trade finances strategy of countries in the region and how do governments assess the monitoring of the overall trade finances performance.
The surveys prepared by ESCWA targeting banks, firms and policy makers are aimed at gauging the conditions for trade financing in the region particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey for firms, was aimed to evaluate the proportion of exports, top targeted markets, and proportion of the business that is planned for export. In addition, the survey for firms is aimed at evaluating the most frequent obstacles that are encountered in their export efforts.
The surveys prepared by ESCWA targeting banks, firms and policy makers are aimed at gauging the conditions for trade financing in the region before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey for banks, focused on understanding what types of international trade finance tools are being utilized to support businesses in the region. Moreover, the survey for banks is also looking at the biggest constraints to the growth of international trade finance portfolio within the responding banks in addition to the share of the banks’ trade finance portfolio representing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a global health and economic crisis that has transformed the world.
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a global health and economic crisis that has transformed the world. The Arab region is not immune to the shock triggered by the pandemic. In line with global trends, GDP in the Arab region is expected to decline at an annual rate of 5.7 per cent in 2020, with the entire economy for the region losing around $900 billion in output between 2020 and 2022. In the worst-case scenario, the region is not expected to return to pre-COVID-19 levels before 2023.
ESCWA organized in cooperation with UNECE, IRU and Euro Med Transport Support Project a capacity building workshop “Implementation of the eTIR International System in the ESCWA region” on 16 and 17 December 2020. The workshop was held online from 10:00 am until 13:00 pm.
The main objectives of this workshop are: