Thursday, 2 February 2017

CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE - Sean Edwards, ITFA Chairman / Head of Legal at SMBC

Dear Members and Friends,

Welcome to 2017!

The global economy ended 2016 on a strong note, and started this year in the same vein. Economic data such as PMIs and leading economic indicators from the world’s major economies continue to indicate strong and robust growth, at least in the short to medium term. This positive string of economic data releases can well be explained by a concoction of looser economic policy and expectations of an improving global economic scenario. This mix of policies in the leading emerging and developed economies is propelling an increase in consumer’s propensity to consume and policies are expected to remain growth-friendly over the next couple of years.

However, some emerging markets will be left with no choice but to tighten their current accommodative stance and adjust their imbalances. 2017 is expected to be a year where political risk takes centre stage and the economic policies of certain countries face a great deal of risks which could impact the trajectory of inflation, both domestically and worldwide. The US economy and US dollar are pivotal for emerging market economies as the Trump administration and its new policies begin to infiltrate into the world economy. President Trump’s swift decision to cancel the US‘s involvement in the TPP was not surprising given his previous rhetoric but does the current void signal the start of protectionism or something more benign? Global trade may well shrug off these developments unless the apparent movement to protectionism become more generalised.   

In this edition of the 2017 ITFA Newsletter you will find an ITFA release titled ''Payables Finance: a Threat Averted’’. One also finds an interesting article contributed by GTR - ''Trump’s ‘Aggressive’ First Days in Office Worry Trade Experts’’. Our regular feature - Chart of the Month, contributed by Dr. Rebecca Harding of Equant Analytics provides an interesting read titled ''Trade’s Tectonic Plates’’.

As we informed you all in the past couple of days, ITFA is pleased to announce that the 44th Annual International Trade and Forfaiting Conference will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland between the 6th and 8th of September 2017. This year we will be greeting you at the Caledonian Hotel, an iconic five-star venue in the heart of historic Edinburgh. A networking afternoon with dedicated rooms and a reservation portal to book meetings with all conference delegates will take place on the second day of the conference. At this point we just ask you to Save the Date and to keep following our regular updates.

We look forward to hearing from you with any feedback you may want to share with us by sending an email to myself, any of the Board Members or to our general email, info@itfa.org.  

Best wishes,

Sean Edwards

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