News

Washington, D.C. - Today the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) announced the release of its annual Report to the U.S. Congress on Global Export Credit Competition, covering the period from January 1 through December 31, 2016.

The report focuses on official export credit provided by global export credit agencies (ECAs) on medium and long (MLT) repayment terms of greater than two years.  Currently, there are 96 ECAs around the world-up from 85 in 2014.

In 2016, EXIM approved only about $200 million in medium-term authorizations and no long-term authorizations. Throughout the entire year, EXIM operated without a quorum on the Bank's board of directors, which prevented the agency from authorizing financing transactions above $10 million, a level where ECA financing is often a critical factor in exporter competitiveness.

Key findings of EXIM's 2016 Competitiveness Report:

• Growing MLT Support from BRICS Countries: The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) provided a combined total of more than $51 billion (in U.S. dollars) in MLT export credit in 2016. This activity represented 45 percent-nearly half-of the total official export credit provided worldwide.  Most of this support was offered on terms outside of the rules on export credit of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (the OECD Arrangement), to which EXIM adheres.
   
• China Remains World's Largest Provider of Official MLT Support: In 2016, China's $34 billion in MLT export credit and approximately $50 billion in investment support were the world's largest. In fact, China provided more trade-related investment support than the rest of the world combined.
   
• OECD Arrangement MLT Support Declines in Total, Varies Individually: Overall, OECD MLT activity was $66 billion, accounting for only 29 percent of official trade-related support provided in 2016. This drop continued the trend of declining export credits offered in alignment with the OECD Arrangement that began in 2013. Over the same period, there has been a surge in export and trade-related activity occurring outside of the purview of the OECD Arrangement that is being fueled by both the expansion of non-OECD ECA activity and the growth of programs that OECD member countries have introduced as part of their broader export promotion policies.
   
  However, MLT volumes varied considerably among individual OECD participants in 2016. Some countries' volumes significantly increased, including Italy at $10.3 billion (+93 percent), Sweden at $4.8 billion (+141 percent), and the United Kingdom at $3.9 billion (+198 percent). These gains were offset by falling volumes elsewhere, not only in the United States (-97 percent), but also in other countries, e.g., Japan at $1.6 billion (-63 percent).

ABOUT EXIM BANK:

EXIM Bank is an independent federal agency that supports and maintains U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees and export credit insurance, to promote the sale of U.S. goods and services abroad. Almost 90 percent of its transactions directly serve American small businesses.

In fiscal year 2016 (October 1, 2015, through September 30, 2016), EXIM approved $5 billion in total authorizations to support an estimated $8 billion of U.S. export sales. Since FY 2009, EXIM has supported more than 1.4 million American jobs in communities across the country and sent $3.8 billion of surplus to the U.S. Treasury for deficit reduction.

For more information about EXIM, please visit www.exim.gov.

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