Ex-Im Bank Approves $6.8 Billion in Export Financing in Two Days
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The board of directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) authorized $6.8 billion in export financing on May 30 and 31, increasing its current portfolio to $99.3 billion. These transactions were approved after President Obama signed the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Act into law. This legislation immediately increased the Bank's portfolio cap from $100 to $120 billion, and ultimately to $140 billion. It also extends Ex-Im's authority through 2014, thus providing much-needed certainty to U.S. exporters and their workers.
Ex-Im Bank plays a vital role in ensuring our nation's exporters are able to compete against tough global competition, said Ex-Im Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. Our goal is to continue to help create and sustain U.S. jobs, and these latest transactions demonstrate why it was critically important for Congress to increase Ex-Im's exposure limit. Without this increase, the Bank would have been forced to turn exporters away, and U.S. jobs would have been lost. I am pleased that the Bank's reauthorization has been finalized, and that we can continue to provide export financing during these tough economic times.
Ex-Im's Board of Directors approved nearly two dozen transactions on May 30 and 31. These authorizations include $300 million for Ford Motor Company, $1 billion for Pemex, and $32 million for Wind Power Energia, a company that manufactures wind turbine blades.
About Ex-Im Bank:
Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. In the past five years, Ex-Im Bank has earned for U.S. taxpayers $1.9 billion above the cost of operations. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit insurance and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services.
Ex-Im Bank approved $32.7 billion in total authorizations in FY 2011 - an all-time Ex-Im record. This total includes more than $6 billion directly supporting small-business export sales - also an Ex-Im record. Ex-Im Bank's total authorizations are supporting an estimated $41 billion in U.S. export sales and approximately 290,000 American jobs in communities across the country. For more information, visit www.exim.gov.