The issue of finances and credit markets remains the main topic of discussion during this first day of the World Agricultural Forum going on in St. Louis, Mo.

The most current session features several prominent bankers, including: Shuillin Wang, China Investment Corp.; Joseph Quinlan, Chief Market Strategist for Bank of America; James Bond, CEO, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency at The World Bank; Jonathan Campaigne, CEO of PRIDEAFRICA in Kenya; and Esther Muthoni Muiruri, the General Manager Marketing-Agri Business, Equity Bank, Ltd.

Quinlan warned that with the current global financial crisis, there might be a tendency for some banks, especially those in North America and Europe, to keep more of their capital at home.

“As the banks rebuild their balance sheets, there’s going be a home bias.”

As bad as that might sound for some of the developing countries, which rely on foreign investment to move their ag programs forward, they might look more to their own homegrown finances to get the local economies moving. That growth in local economies, in turn, will fuel the overall growth in the world’s economy.

Quinlan says the political instability that plagues many developing countries will make banks in the U.S. wait for local banks, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) take the lead at financing those operations in those areas.

He says that a forum such as this one only confirms in his mind the importance of agricultural commodities and the investment opportunities they offer.

Listen to my conversation with Joseph here: Quinlan1.mp3

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