Ex-Im Bank Chairman, GE Transportation President Highlight How Export Financing is Supporting Pa. Jobs
Erie, Penn. - Today, Fred P. Hochberg, the chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) and Lorenzo Simonelli, the president and CEO of GE Transportation highlighted how Ex-Im Bank financing is supporting jobs at businesses of all sizes throughout Pennsylvania.
Chairman Hochberg and Lorenzo Simonelli, the president and CEO of GE Transportation, on tour at GE's Erie, Pa. plant.
The U.S. has the best workforce in the world, and no other country can compete with the quality and dependability of our products, said Chairman Hochberg following his tour of GE Transportation's manufacturing plant. I'm delighted to be here today because GE Transportation is the leading job provider in Erie, and Ex-Im Bank is committed to supporting projects of all sizes that create and sustain American jobs.
I'm pleased to host Chairman Hochberg at our Erie plant, said Simonelli. Ex-Im Bank is all about creating American jobs by helping to finance equipment made in the U.S.A., such as GE locomotives built in Erie, for export to serve customers around the world.
In Fiscal Year 2011 (FY'11), Ex-Im authorized more than $1.2 billion in export credit for Pennsylvania businesses, and the Keystone State ranked fifth nationally for all Ex-Im financing. Since 1999, Ex-Im Bank has authorized more than $1.36 billion in financing for GE Transportation's international customers.
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 six years, Ex-Im Bank has earned for U.S. taxpayers $3.7 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.