Financial institutions globally failed to meet $2.5 trillion in financing that companies needed for trade last year, holding back the global economy, according to a new survey by the Asian Development Bank. Though the figure was unchanged since the last survey in 2023, ADB head of trade and supply chain finance Steven Beck said the persistently large gap represented a lost opportunity to drive global growth and development. The gap has also widened since 2015, when it stood at $1.5 trillion. "Without the financing to back trade, imports, and exports, we're just not going to be able to realise the kind of growth and development that we can from trade," he said.