But it has not slumped and as inflation comes down, policymakers have increased room to respond. The pressure on European banks to shed assets has led to some tightening of trade credit in the Asian region, but at this stage the system seems to be adjusting to that without major drama.
We have not, to date, seen the collapse of trade credit and trade flows we saw in late 2008. Commodity prices, which had declined noticeably from their peaks in the first half of 2011, have actually moved sideways, or in some cases picked up a bit, for a few months now. They remain high by historical standards.