Trade financing is when finance is made available by banks to various trading companies to perform cross-border transactions. It also acts as an engine that drives the growth of a country's GDP. When a country produces goods or services, it exports some of those goods and services to other countries. However, there is a time lag between the production and delivery time required for the consignment to reach the importing country, so there is a certain degree of uncertainty about whether the parties will honor their part of the transaction. Hence, the importing country appoints a bank to issue a financial instrument that promises to make the payment to the exporting country upon the successful delivery of the consignment to the importing country.