What's the meaning of "short credit position"?

[Huangyankun]

I was reading in a magazine and got stumped by some of the expressions in the following passage. Can anyone help me understand?

"In Latin America the fund’s short credit positions contributed but gains were offset by losses on long credit and currency investments. In Asia the fund’s currency positions were mixed, but on net slightly negative, and the fund’s short external credit positions also detracted from the region’s performance. Finally, small losses on external credit positions in the Middle East detracted from performance."

1.What does "short credit position" mean? Does "contribute" mean "bring in profits"? What does "long credit and currency investments" mean? Does it mean "to borrow money to invest"? If so, how does it relate to "long" in meaning?

2. What does "fund’s currency positions" mean? Does it mean a currency's value in in terms of another currency? What should "positions" be explained? What does "mixed" mean here>

3. What does "short external credit positions" mean?

Thank you.

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum, Huangyankun.

I was reading [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] a magazine ...

Please state the source of any text that you quote. What was the name of the magazine, and who wrote the article?

I am not an economist, but we have members who can help.