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December 2005
"What's New!" is a periodic update to keep you informed of the latest on the ECA Watch website. What's New! features a wide range of materials related to the reform of Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) including NGO publications and releases, news articles, commentaries and announcements about the policies and practices of ECAs and ECA-financed projects world-wide. If you would like to receive "What's New!" simply add your e-mail to the ECA-Action list at www.eca-watch.org today! Questions? Email info@eca-watch.org
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1) |
EBRD Caves in to Shell on Sakhalin |
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2) |
The OECD, the WTO and Agricultural Subsidies |
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Belgian ECA continues efforts to circumvent prohibition of Tanzania arms deal |
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How to start a low cost airline with ECA financial support |
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Bulgarian coal plant gets Hermes and Coface support |
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U.S. lifts export credit ban for Indonesian arms purchases |
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Scots demand control over aid budget share, is ECGD next? |
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Nauru's only air link grounded by U.S. Ex Im Bank |
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Chinese ECA faces bad debts, poor risk assessments |
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10) |
EDC Global Capital Flows Report |
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11) |
What have dams got to do with peace? Conflict and the politics of infrastructure |
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12) |
ECGD supports Filipino bridges to nowhere |
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13) |
New Secretary-General a major face-lift for OECD? |
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View Back Issues of What's New |
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1. |
EBRD Caves in to Shell on Sakhalin |
| (Pacific Environment, San Francisco, 19 December 2005) In a stunning reversal of institutional integrity, the European Bank for Reconstruction (EBRD) declared the scandal-ridden Sakhalin II oil and gas project Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) “fit for purpose.” This decision comes despite 3 years of EBRD insistance that the project is “unfit for purpose”, because it doesn't comply with its environmental policies, and while the environmental impacts on the ground have worsened. NGOs are outraged, while the Export Credit Agencies of the U.S., UK and Japan now consider the controversial project for support. |
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The OECD, the WTO and Agricultural Subsidies |
| (ECAW, Paris, 21 December 2005) With all the press coverage this week of WTO talks in Hong Kong dominated by the question of agricultural subsidies, it is interesting to look back at the history of this issue and see what role export credit agencies have played in an ongoing North/South conflict. |
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Belgian ECA continues efforts to circumvent prohibition of Tanzania arms deal |
| (Proyecto Gato, Brussels, 21 December 2005) Despite the cancellation of export permits in 2004 and 2005, the Belgian ECA Ducroire agreed to reimburse New Lachaussée some €8 million in damages for its inability to complete construction of an ammunition factory in Tanzania, seen by the UN as a potential conduit for illegal arms flows to the Congo. |
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How to start a low cost airline with ECA financial support |
| (Hindustan Times, Mumbai, 10 December 2005) How about starting your own airline? This article outlines the economics: all you need is US$2 million in paid up capital to start a regional airline with an aircraft of less than 80 seats and ECAs and banks will finance up to 95% of the cost of aircraft. |
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Bulgarian coal plant gets Hermes and Coface support |
| (Reuters, Sofia, 7 December 2005) - U.S. energy firm AES on Wednesday launched a €1 billion (US$1.17 billion) project to build a new thermal power plant in Bulgaria that would help the Balkan state remain the region's leading power producer. Under the 12.5-year debt facility, EBRD will lend 105 million euros, while the banks will provide the remaining funds, insured by EBRD, the German and French export credit agencies and the World Bank's investment guarantee agency MIGA. |
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U.S. lifts export credit ban for Indonesian arms purchases |
| (Antara News, Jakarta, 30 November 2005) In November, the U.S. lifted its embargo on military sales to Indonesia. Now the Indonesian Army plans to use export credit facilities to purchase helicopter replacements and parts. |
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Scots demand control over aid budget share, is ECGD next? |
| (Scottish National Party, Edinburgh, 22 November 2005) SNP Europe Spokesman Alyn Smith MEP is calling for Scots to have control of their share of the UK's International aid budget, stating that the Department for International Development (DFID) has in the past used their budgets to assist with export credit guarantees for arms or unnecessary investment in developing countries rather than concentrating on core needs. |
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Nauru's only air link grounded by U.S. Ex-Im Bank |
| (The Australian, Sydney, 20 December 2005) Nauru lost its air link with the world last week when the U.S. Ex-Im Bank repossessed the debt-laden Pacific nation's sole passenger aircraft at Melbourne Airport. Nauru lost the plane after a failed legal attempt to put the U.S. on trial in a bizarre case involving spies, terrorism and North Korean defectors. |
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Chinese ECA faces bad debts, poor risk assessments |
| (Xinhuanet, Shanghai, 9 December 2005)
China has been facing increasing risks in international trade and a survey indicates its ratio of bad accounts in exports is 5%, ten to 20 times the average for developed countries. China falls behind in terms of experience, construction of financial and credit supporting networks, basic research on risk control and relevant technological developments according to the deputy general manager of China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE). |
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EDC Global Capital Flows Report |
| (EDC, Ottawa 29 November 2005) – An Export Development Canada (EDC) report indicates that global capital flows returned to developing markets in 2004 and 2005. EDC also suggests that the pace of foreign direct investment (FDI) is likely to fall off in 2006 as the global economy slows and credit risks increase. Falling FDI may increase demand for ECA support in emerging markets for riskier projects. |
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What have dams got to do with peace? Conflict and the politics of infrastructure development |
| (The Corner House, Dorset, 19 December 2005) OECD Export Credit Group Member ECAs seem poised to subsidize new dam construction now with newly authorized subsidies. Nicholas Hildyard addresses the real and damaging conflicts that dams (and other large infrastructure projects such as oil pipelines and mines) can cause and exacerbate. Infrastructure development is often at the junction where conflicts over resources and decision-making meet, where future conflicts are created and where past conflicts are perpetuated. This paper raises key questions about decision-making, and political and economic power, about wider geo-politics and re-colonisation. |
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12. |
ECGD supports Filipino bridges to nowhere |
| (Guardian, London, 20 December 2005)
A Guardian investigation has discovered that steel bridges costing more
than £400m have been sold to the Philippines by the Mabey family, all secured with UK government-backed loans and grants. But as many as 22% of the crossings, which were supposed to open up flood-prone jungle terrain, have no roads to go with them. |
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New Secretary-General a major face-lift for OECD? |
| (IHT, Paris, 29 november 2005) Could OECD Secretary General elect José Angel Gurría be the new face for the globalizing economy? OECD admirers call the Paris-based body "the world's greatest think tank." But detractors say the OECD risks irrelevance, lacking the stature of other international organizations like the United Nations, the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund. Gurría, 55, recognizes these dangers and plans to turn it into a "secretariat of the globalization process." |
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