In the book “Financing Trade and International Supply Chains,” Alexander R. Malaket, the author, starts by discussing the importance of international trade with respect to growth, economic prosperity, international development and how it has been seen as the path to recovery following the 2007 global economic crisis. He further puts international trade into perspective by mentioning that growth in trade flows has exceeded the growth of GDP in the last four to five decades and that global merchandise exports according to the World Trade Organization stood at $18 trillion out of which 80% - 90% used some form of financing. Malaket also highlights the size of the trade finance market and the various types of trade finance arrangements using an adaptation from an International Monetary Fund paper from 2008.