Financing boost for exports to Asia emerging markets

[SINGAPORE] Singapore's exports to Asia's emerging markets are about to get a $1 billion annual boost from a new government trade financing plan.

Some 250 local companies - a big chunk of them small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) - are tipped to gain yearly from a credit guarantee scheme that International Enterprise (IE) Singapore is launching with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, a Swiss insurance company.

With the new Trade Facilitation Scheme (TFS), which comes into effect on Dec 1, both IE Singapore and Swiss Re are topping up capital to expand the current limits of ADB's existing credit guarantee scheme, the Trade Finance Programme (ADB-TFP), to back more trade transactions by Singapore firms.