Recent Posts
Categories
International Monetary Fund
- Fiscal Monitor Update, January 2021 January 20, 2021
- Fiscal Monitor: Policies for the Recovery October 14, 2020
- Fiscal Monitor, October 2020 : Policies for the Recovery October 14, 2020
- Fiscal Monitor, April 2020 : Policies to Support People During the COVID-19 Pandemic April 15, 2020
World Trade Organization — Latest news
- Trade Policy Review: Saudi Arabia March 3, 2021The third review of the trade policies and practices of Saudi Arabia takes place on 3 and 5 March 2021. The basis for the review is a report by the WTO Secretariat and a report by the Government of Saudi Arabia. WTO
- Civil society call for fishing subsidies deal welcomed by Dr Ngozi and negotiations chair March 1, 2021Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala welcomed civil society’s plea for a successful conclusion to the fisheries subsidies negotiations, illustrated through a fish ice sculpture set up by a coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in front of the WTO headquarters on 1 March. Dr Okonjo-Iweala visited the sculpture accompanied by the chair of the negotiations, Ambassador Santiago Wills […] WTO
- Twelfth Ministerial Conference to take place in Geneva in late 2021 March 1, 2021WTO members have agreed that the organization’s Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12) will take place in the week of 29 November 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland. The timing and venue were endorsed at a meeting of the WTO’s General Council on 1 March. WTO
- DG Okonjo-Iweala: WTO can deliver results if members “accept we can do things differently” March 1, 2021Addressing the WTO General Council immediately after taking office on 1 March, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on members to “do things differently” to achieve reforms necessary to keep the WTO relevant, starting with swift action to curb harmful fisheries subsidies, and to help scale up COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution. The new head of the […] WTO
Forward contracts
Forward contracts enable to avoid adverse impacts of currency fluctuations.Indeed Importers and exporters who are engaged in transactions denominated in foreign currency can benefit from using this hedging tool.
A forward contract is a firm engagement to deliver a certain amount of foreign currency at a given date and at a fixed exchange rate.
Let’s take the example of Spanish Importer who concluded a 10 565 240 USD (10 M EUR) deal with a US Exporter with a 90-day payment term. Note that at the time of the agreement, the exchange rate was 1 EUR = 1.0565 USD. In order to avoid the risk engendered by a potential rise of the USD, the importer will ask his Bank for a 3month forward exchange rate.
The Banker will proceed as follows:
He will borrow 10 M EUR with a 1% interest rate during 3 months.
He will then buy USD and invest them for 1.5% yield during three months.
Based on the preceding the banker will offer a 3 month rate of: 1 EUR=1.0578 USD
1.0565 * (1+90/360* 0.015) / (1+90/360*0.01) = 1.0578
In this case the fact that the 3 months forward exchange rate is higher than the spot rate is explained by the better yield in USA.
Therefore, by entering into a foreign contract, the Bank will have the obligation to deliver 10 565 240 USD against 9 987 937 EUR (10565240/1.0578) at maturity.
Shortcomings:
Unlike option contracts, forward contracts does not allow to benefit from favourable fluctuations since the Banker and the Exporter have the obligation to deliver a specific amount of foreign currency at a specific exchange rate and at a specific date.
As a result forward contracts are usually cheaper than Options, which means that, depending on circumstances, a trade off between flexibility and price will have to be made.
Please click on the links below for more hedging techniques