Welcome to ECA Watch

Export credit agences provide government-backed loans, guarantees and insurance to corporations working internationally in some of the most volatile, controversial and damaging industries on the planet.

Shrouded in mystery, ECAs provide financial backing for risky projects that might never otherwise get off the ground. They are a major source of national debt in developing countries.

ECA Watch is a network of NGOs from around the world. We come together to campaign for ECA reform - better transparency, accountability, and respect for environmental standards and human rights.

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What's New June 2019

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-at-eca-watch.org

See all "What's New!" updates since 2005 here.

  • MPs make unprecedented call for end to UKEF overseas fossil fuel support
  • Despite climate pledges, G20 coal subsidies rise
  • See no evil: How EDC is bankrolling companies accused of bid-rigging, graft and human-rights violation
  • Chinese Banks and ECAs Court African Governments
  • Europe’s German-speaking ECAs ink collaboration pact
  • Japanese, US & Australian ECAs begin own 'Belt and Road' in South Pacific
  • Waters backs down in Ex-Im fight after internal struggle
  • U.S. lags in export financing arms race fueled by China: EXIM report
  • Kenyan court blocks Chinese ECA backed power plant on environment grounds
  • Norwegan ECA blacklists shipbuilders over human rights abuses
  • Banks with a combined $100bn shipping portfolio stimulate green change
  • Public and targeted consultations on EU short-term ECA rules

MPs make unprecedented call for end to UKEF overseas fossil fuel support

(EU Today, London, 9 June 2019) For the first time, a Parliamentary committee has called for an end to taxpayer support for overseas fossil fuel projects. The Government must move immediately to end UKEF’s fossil fuel support, or all its talk of a ‘climate emergency’ will be seen as hollow words. The UK Government must act on today’s report by parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee about UK Export Finance, which calls for an end to UK taxpayer support for overseas fossil fuel projects by 2021. UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, underwrites loans and insurance for export deals as part of efforts to help British business overseas. Global Witness was instrumental in calling for Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee to set up the inquiry into UKEF. (26 June 2019, edie newsroom) Thousands of campaigners across the UK are marching today towards Parliament in a bid to urge MPs and the Government to strengthen commitments to tackling climate change, just days after the House of Commons approved draft recommendations for a national net-zero target.

https://eutoday.net/news/environment/2019/mps-make-unprecedented-call-for-end-to...


Despite climate pledges, G20 coal subsidies rise

(Reuters, London, 24 June 2019) Despite promising a decade ago to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, the world’s leading economies more than doubled subsidies to coal-fired power plants over three years, putting climate goals at risk, energy researchers said Tuesday. Between 2014 and 2017, G20 governments more than halved direct support for coal mining, from $22 billion to about $10 billion on average each year, according to a report by the London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a think tank. But over the same period they boosted backing for coal-fired power plants - particularly supporting construction of the plants in other, often poorer nations - from $17 billion to $47 billion a year. While spending from national budgets on coal fell, as did tax breaks for it, other forms of support - from development finance institutions, export-credit agencies and state-owned enterprises - soared. Four countries alone, the UK, France, Canada and Ireland have all formally recognised a climate crisis but analysis shows they give $27.5bn annually in support for coal, oil and gas, much of it via ECAs.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-coal-subsidies/despite-climate...


See no evil: How EDC is bankrolling companies accused of bid-rigging, graft and human-rights violation

(Globe and Mail, Toronto, 4 June 2019) Export Development Canada once described itself as the country’s ‘secret trade weapon.’ But The Globe’s review of thousands of transactions reveals a pattern of secrecy and lax supervision. In Latin America, billions of dollars in Canadian government-backed loans have been funnelled to two of the region’s most notorious oil companies: the state-owned petroleum corporations of Mexico and Brazil, each riddled with frequent reports of bribery, bid-rigging and inflated contracts. In Africa, hundreds of millions of dollars in financing has been channelled to companies at the heart of South Africa’s worst postapartheid corruption scandal: the state-owned freight rail monopoly and the business empire of the infamous Gupta brothers, whose relationship with ex-president Jacob Zuma triggered a public inquiry into state corruption. And in Canada, billions of dollars in federal export loans have gone to support transactions that benefit Bombardier Inc. and SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., two companies that have been cited in corruption investigations in Asia, Africa and Europe. SNC-Lavalin’s head of compliance says the firm is still hoping to reach an out-of-court settlement on bribery, fraud charges.  EDC has declared itself a leading defender of human rights, but workers groups and advocates say the Crown agency’s long-awaited new policy falls well short of what’s needed.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-export-development-canada-investi...


Chinese Banks and ECAs Court African Governments

(Peace FM Online, Accra, 25 June 2019) African Foreign Ministers attending the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Coordinators’ meeting in Beijing yesterday met Chinese financial institutions who introduced them to their array of financial products. This is in line with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s [2015 and then 2018] $60 billion pledge in financial support to African countries. The breakdown showed that $5 billion was free aid and interest-free loans, while $35 billion was for preferential loans and export credit on more favourable terms, and five billion dollars for additional capital for the China Africa development fund. Five billion dollars was also up for initial capital of special loans for the development of African small to medium enterprises each, and $10 billion for China-Africa production capacity cooperation fund.

http://www.peacefmonline.com/pages/business/economy/201906/385516.php


Europe’s German-speaking ECAs ink collaboration pact

(Global Trade Review, London, 19 June 2019) Hermes, OeKB and Serv – the export credit agencies (ECAs) of Germany, Austria and Switzerland respectively – have agreed to join forces to improve opportunities for their exporters in the face of increased competition from Asia. While the statement doesn’t call out China by name, Chinese export credits have long been seen as a competitive threat by Europe’s ECAs. China is not a member of the OECD and is therefore not obliged to comply with the OECD guidelines that stipulate the financial terms and conditions that its members may offer, leaving scope for an unfair advantage for Chinese exporters.

https://www.gtreview.com/news/europe/europes-german-speaking-ecas-ink-collaborat...


Japanese, US & Australian ECAs begin own 'Belt and Road' in South Pacific

(Kikkei Asian Review, Tokyo, 25 June 2019) Japan, the U.S. and Australia have picked a liquefied natural gas project in Papua New Guinea as their first case for joint financing in the Indo-Pacific region, planning to lend over $1 billion, Nikkei has learned. Three government-backed lenders -- Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp. and Australia's Export Finance and Insurance Corp. -- plan to issue a statement on Tuesday regarding their joint infrastructure efforts. The three countries agreed in November to join hands in financing infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific to offer an alternative to China's Belt and Road initiative. The LNG project in Papua New Guinea marks the first project in this three-way cooperation.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Japan-US-and-Australia-...


Waters backs down in Ex-Im fight after internal struggle

(Politico, Washington, 26 June 2019) House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) on Wednesday shelved a bipartisan Export-Import Bank bill that sparked a fierce backlash from her own caucus. The original compromise she drafted with Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) ignited criticism from a wide swath of the Democrats on the committee — centrists and progressives alike, from the most senior members to newly elected freshmen, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who objected to new restrictions that would be imposed on the bank and big manufacturers such as Boeing, that benefit from its loan guarantees, as well as the lack of tougher environmental safeguards for energy projects financed abroad. Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) were preparing to offer amendments that would impose new limits on the agency's financing of fossil fuel power plants abroad with the political backing of dozens of environmental groups. Limits on sales to China were a must-have for McHenry, who argued that it was a way to curb what he saw as a subsidy for an economic competitor. The bank is only now returning to full operation after years of being hobbled by conservative Republican lawmakers who criticized the agency as engaging in "crony capitalism" and posing a risk to taxpayers, even though it returns money to the Treasury. McHenry had predicted a strong Republican vote in favor of the bill thanks to the compromises Waters agreed to, while disgruntled Democrats were frustrated that Waters negotiated the bill with the Republicans and expected Democrats to fall in line without more of their input.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/26/maxine-waters-emport-import-bank-13837...


U.S. lags in export financing arms race fueled by China: EXIM report

(Reuters, Washington, 28 June 2019) China provided as much as $130 billion in government export financing support in 2018, dwarfing every other country and fueling a new export lending arms race, the U.S. Export-Import Bank said in a report on Friday. In the last full year that EXIM had complete lending powers, fiscal 2014, the agency provided $20.5 billion in financing support for $27.5 billion worth of U.S. exports. During the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2018, EXIM authorized only $3.3 billion in financing, supporting $6.8 billion worth of U.S. exports, according to EXIM’s most recent annual report. EXIM has been a popular target for conservatives, who have branded it as a provider of “corporate welfare” and “crony capitalism.” The reinstatement of its lending powers is a boon for large U.S. manufacturers such as Boeing Co (BA.N), General Electric (GE.N) and Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N), which can once again offer U.S.-government-backed financing for overseas customers.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-finance/u-s-lags-in-export-fi...


Kenyan court blocks Chinese ECA backed power plant on environment grounds

(Financial Times, London, 27 June 2019) A Kenyan court has halted construction of the country’s first coal-fired power station on environmental grounds in a blow for the $2bn project’s Chinese backers and the green credentials of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Owned by the Kenya-based Amu Power and funded with export credit from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the contentious project has sparked a heated debate in Kenya about the potential impact of coal-based power on the country’s ecosystem. Located on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast approximately 14 miles north of Lamu town, a tourist destination and Unesco World Heritage site, environmentalists say the plant will pollute the air and destroy mangroves and the breeding grounds of endangered species.

https://www.ft.com/content/9313068e-98dc-11e9-8cfb-30c211dcd229


Norwegan ECA blacklists shipbuilders over human rights abuses

(Asia Shipping Media, Singapore, 5 June 2019)  Norway is pushing to create a shipbuilding regulation akin to the ship recycling sector’s Hong Kong Convention whereby yards will be blacklisted for financing if they are found to have deficient labour and human rights standards. The initiative is being led by the Norwegian Export Credit Guarantee Agency (GIEK), the giant Norwegian state-run financing institution. Speaking at a human rights in shipping seminar yesterday on the sidelines of the Nor-Shipping exhibition just outside Oslo, Sigrid Brynestad, GIEK’s senior sustainability expert, revealed her organisation has already blacklisted two yards for their human rights abuses. GIEK will not help finance any Norwegian ships at the two yards.

https://splash247.com/norway-blacklists-shipbuilders-over-human-rights-abuses/


Banks with a combined $100bn shipping portfolio stimulate green change

(Asia Shipping Media, Singapore, 18 June 2019) Eleven major shipping banks have joined a global framework called the Poseidon Principles to integrate climate considerations into lending decisions in line with IMO’s greenhouse gas (GHG) strategy to slash the industry’s carbon footprint by 50% by 2050. The Poseidon Principles are applicable to lenders, relevant lessors, and financial guarantors including export credit agencies. Around 90% of global trade by volume is carried by ships - making the maritime industry a vital player in economic growth, but at a cost. If it were a country, shipping would equal Germany for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Together they represent a bank loan portfolio to global shipping of approximately $100 billion – around 20% of the global ship finance portfolio.

https://splash247.com/eleven-shipping-banks-join-framework-to-promote-green-ship...


Public and targeted consultations on EU short-term ECA rules

(Lexology, Brussels, 24 June 2019) In January 2019, the European Commission announced its intention to extend, for a period of two years, 7 sets of State aid rules, which were due to expire in 2020, [including the Communication on Short-Term Export Credit Insurance]. In this respect, the European Commission launched public and targeted consultations to assess the relevance, effectiveness and coherence of these sets of rules and to check whether they are still appropriate for the objective pursued. The Commission, as the guardian of competition under the Treaty, has always strongly condemned export aid for intra-Union trade and for exports outside the Union... to prevent Member States’ support for export-credit insurance from distorting competition

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=720453c5-17bb-4335-9914-678646b8c...


What's New May 2019

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-at-eca-watch.org

See all "What's New!" updates since 2005 here.

  • Senate Confirmation of Export-Import Bank Directors Means Billions More Dollars in Federal Fossil Fuel Financing
  • Pity the Export-Import Bank, caught between warring Republican factions
  • Liberals caught again in SNC Lavalin EDC Scandal
  • Canada strikes alliance with U.S. counterweight to China’s Belt and Road Initiative
  • Aid and UKEF funding must be coherent & recognise climate change emergency, say MPs
  • China’s export insurance giant is taking a risk on coal
  • Legal challenge mounted against Kosovo coal project
  • China, Japan and South Korea, while vowing to go green at home, promote coal abroad
  • European ECAs may loose out to Russian and/or Chinese sales of fighter jets to Malaysia
  • EXIM Should Explore Using Available Data to Identify Applicants with Delinquent Federal Debt
  • New EDC human-rights policy lacks power, say workers and watchdogs

Senate Confirmation of Export-Import Bank Directors Means Billions More Dollars in Federal Fossil Fuel Financing

(Friends of the Earth, Washington, 8 May 2019) The U.S. Senate today voted to confirm 3 nominees to the Board of Directors of the U.S. Export-Import Bank. The confirmation allows Ex-Im to establish a board quorum, clearing the way for the bank to revive its financing of billions of dollars in fossil fuel projects abroad. After nearly four years without full authority to operate, today’s Senate vote paves the way for 12 fossil fuel projects in the agency’s queue to progress forward to a board vote — with many more applications for financing likely to come. These dirty projects will result in tens of millions of tons of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere annually. “By approving these new directors, the Senate is letting the Export-Import Bank fuel the crisis of climate change,” said Doug Norlen, economic policy program director at Friends of the Earth. “The bank will return to its past practice of supporting projects that damage the global climate, harm community health, violate human rights and hasten corruption. Rather than addressing the threat of climate change proactively, this is a vote to make the Export-Import Bank Trump’s billion-dollar fossil fuel slush fund.” Two Presidential Candidates have now said they want Ex-Im Bank's fossil fuel financing halted.  Sen. Bernie Sanders voted against Trump's nominees and is quoted in this article saying Ex-Im “should not be providing low-interest loans and loan guarantees to big fossil fuel companies that are endangering the planet.”  And, Washington State Governor and Presidential Candidate Jay Inslee just released his Evergreen Economy for America Plan which pledges "to cease all support for new fossil energy projects" by Ex-Im Bank and OPIC. Ex-Im's Congressional authorization expires Sept. 30, so the fight is brewing again!

https://foe.org/news/senate-confirmation-export-import-bank-directors-means-bill...


Pity the Export-Import Bank, caught between warring Republican factions

(ctpost, Norwalk, 8 May 019) No federal agency has lived such a bizarre state of suspended animation as has the Export-Import Bank, a long-obscure bureau that provides loan guarantees to U.S. companies doing business abroad. Rather than heralding it as a force for job creation, free-market conservatives turned Ex-Im into an ideological rallying cry that led to some of the most bitter disputes in Republican circles this decade. GOP senators called each other liars. House conservatives threatened to oust the speaker. Rank-and-file Republicans rebelled against the rebellion to save the bank. That changed Wednesday, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., allowed confirmation votes on three board members, each of whom passed with near-unanimous Democratic support and sizeable Republican opposition. Once again, Ex-Im is back in business, able to support loans larger than $10 million for some of the largest U.S. exporters. But the fight is far from over. Just as it is finally getting a board, the Ex-Im Bank faces another fight over its very existence, as the 2015 legislation reauthorizing the agency is set to expire in the fall, setting up a debate that never seems to end and has left the bank's supporters continually puzzled.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Pity-the-Export-Import-Bank-caught-between-1...


Liberals caught again in SNC Lavalin EDC Scandal

(Yorkton This Week, Yorkton SK, 15 May 2019) Export Development Canada (EDC), Canada's export credit agency, was created in 1944 to promote Canadian business overseas. It has 12 offices across Canada and 19 regional offices around the world. According to CBC reports SNC Lavelin have borrowed billions of dollars since the mid 1990’s from EDC. SNC Lavalin resulted from a merger of Surveyor, Nenniger, Chenevert and Lavalin all based in Quebec in 1991 instantly becoming one of the five largest engineering/construction companies in the world. They have been doing work in countries where bribery and corruption are common practice. They conform to the culture of the country and perform with their own questionable behavior. SNC Lavalin have been working on a slippery and shady slope. Even when applying for loans, they insert unsupported contingencies which seem to infer bribery money. Their worsening reputation worldwide was highlighted in 2011 and 2012 with high profile executives being arrested and jailed in Switzerland, the corporate head office of their construction division. Corruption had been uncovered for work being done in Mexico, Libya and Bangledesh. A result of this incident was the World Bank suspending a 1.2 billion dollar loan application for a proposed project in Bangledesh. In April, 2012 the World Bank suspended SNC Lavalin from bidding on any other bank projects. It would be interesting to see a complete list of their ongoing allegations!

https://www.yorktonthisweek.com/opinion/letters/liberals-caught-again-in-snc-lav...


Canada strikes alliance with U.S. counterweight to China’s Belt and Road Initiative

(Globe and Mail, Toronto, 14 May 2019) Canada’s overseas development finance arm is joining forces with a U.S. government agency that is being set up to act as a counterweight to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a state-sponsored foreign-investment scheme by Beijing. The U.S. government’s Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC) says in a statement the agreement it signed with both Canada’s FinDev and the European Union last month creates an alliance of development finance institutions that will enhance co-operation and underscore their collective commitment to "providing a robust alternative to unsustainable state-led models.” The Canadian government’s development finance arm is being funded with $300-million from the retained earnings of Export Development Canada, the federal government’s export credit agency.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-canada-strikes-alliance-with-us...


Aid and UKEF funding must be coherent & recognise climate change emergency, say MPs

(Guardian, London, 8 May 2019) The British government’s aid spending is failing to recognise the “scale and urgency” of the climate change challenge facing the world, MPs warn. Climate change must be placed at the centre of aid strategy and funding, if it is to address the seriousness of threats facing developing countries, the committee said. It urged a minimum spend of £1.76bn annually and a halt to funding fossil fuel projects in developing countries, unless they can demonstrate they support transition to zero emissions by 2050. The report highlighted “incoherent policy” by, showing the government spent £4.8bn on support for fossil fuel projects in 2010-16 via UK Export Finance, almost matching the £4.9bn spent on its International Climate Fund in a similar period, 2011-17. It has created a situation where “the UK government is providing climate aid with one hand and exporting the UK’s fossil fuel pollution with the other”, the report found. Ban Ki-moon, the former UN secretary general, urged Britain to stop funding fossil fuels overseas earlier this year.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/may/08/aid-funding-must-reco...


China’s export insurance giant is taking a risk on coal

(Resource China, New York, 25 April 2019) Worldwide, a growing list of insurers now refuse to cover coal projects, citing risks from climate change and overcapacity. But Sinosure, the sole underwriter of coal-fired power plants along China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has yet to show any indicator of leaving coal behind. China’s foreign direct investment has more than doubled over the past three years, with much of it funneled into energy development. Coal has dominated these investments, combining coal-rich resources in many Belt and Road countries and China’s coal tech. Observers tend to focus on the role of financiers and power companies in overseas coal projects, but the importance of insurers should not be overlooked. Because insurance is a prerequisite for obtaining a loan on an overseas investment project, support from an insurer is needed for a project to move forward. State-owned China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, known as Sinosure, acts as gatekeeper of energy investments along the BRI. Sinosure is China’s only policy insurer to cover overseas coal-fired power projects, meaning that overseas coal power projects require a green light from Sinosure to go ahead. By the end of 2018, Sinosure had underwritten 28 gigawatts of coal power capacity worldwide, exceeding the entire coal capacity of Australia.

https://medium.com/resource-china/chinas-export-insurance-giant-is-taking-a-risk...


Legal challenge mounted against Kosovo coal project

(Bank Watch, Prishtina 13 May 2019) Kosovar and international non-governmental organisations have today submitted an official complaint to the Energy Community dispute settlement mechanism challenging the legality of the power purchase agreement for the planned Kosova e Re coal power project, which is currently awaiting ratification by the Kosovo parliament. The complaint alleges that the 20-year power purchase agreement, signed by the Kosovar government with ContourGlobal in December 2017 fails to comply with the Energy Community Treaty rules on state  aid because it provides ContourGlobal a range of benefits that give it an unfair advantage over other energy producers. The contract would also put an unbearable strain on the state budget and Kosovar electricity consumers as it guarantees that a state-owned company will buy all the electricity generated by ContourGlobal at a “target price” of EUR 80/MWh – much higher than current electricity prices in the region. The World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have refused to provide support for the 500 MW New Kosovo coal power plant. Kosovo and London-listed power firm ContourGlobal said on Friday May 10 they had chosen a consortium of General Electric subsidiaries to build and equip a new 500 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in the Balkan country. Kosovo has turned to the Trump administration for help to build a coal-fired power plant after losing the backing of the World Bank and the EBRD.

https://bankwatch.org/press_release/legal-challenge-mounted-against-kosovo-coal-...


China, Japan and South Korea, while vowing to go green at home, promote coal abroad

(Los Angeles Times, Suralaya, 13 May 2019) In the last-ditch global battle against climate change, China, Japan and South Korea have joined other industrialized nations in promising to reduce their use of fossil fuels. Yet even as they take steps to promote renewable energy at home, these three countries are facing growing scrutiny for financing dozens of new coal-fired power plants in foreign countries, primarily underwritten by their export credit agencies. Most of the plants are being built in Southeast Asia and Africa, in emerging economies where the growing demand for cheap, reliable electricity is most easily met by coal, the single largest source of the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for warming the planet. Environmental groups accuse the three Asian giants of climate hypocrisy.

https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-indonesia-south-korea-coal-energy-finan...


European ECAs may loose out to Russian and/or Chinese sales of fighter jets to Malaysia

(Deutsche Welle, Bonn, 29 May 2019) Financial troubles may force Malaysia to drop its plans to buy highly capable multirole combat aircraft (MRCA) and settle for cheaper, less capable fighter jets to replace its current fleet of Russian MiG 29s that are mostly grounded. Europe's MRCA makers Eurofighter and Dassault Aviation have been wooing Malaysia for almost a decade for a deal. Kuala Lumpur has threatened to boycott EU goods, if the 28-nation bloc goes ahead with its plan to phase out palm oil from transport fuel after the European Commission concluded that palm oil cultivation, with some exceptions, caused deforestation and that its use in transport fuels could not be counted toward its renewable energy goals. Malaysia has said China, Russia and Pakistan have expressed their willingness to be partly paid in palm oil for their fighter jets. This is likely to complicate matters for the RMAF, which has traditionally preferred using Western equipment, including on its Russian Sukhoi jets. Malaysia's latest attempt at barter trade could be beneficial for Russia, which has seen China walk away with many defense deals in the region and undercut Moscow's arm supplies. Russia has a long track record of swapping weapons for commodities in the region, including as part of its fighter jet deals with Indonesia and Vietnam.

https://www.dw.com/en/setback-for-eu-fighter-jets-as-malaysia-bets-on-palm-oil-b...


EXIM Should Explore Using Available Data to Identify Applicants with Delinquent Federal Debt

(US General Accounting Office, Washington, 23 May 2019) The Export-Import Bank (EXIM) of the United States provides financing to support U.S. jobs and companies selling U.S. goods and services abroad. EXIM requires companies applying for certain financing to self-certify that they do not have delinquent federal debt. Financial pressures that stem from such debt can tempt companies to fraudulently apply for financing. However, after analyzing federal data, we identified billions of dollars in authorized EXIM transactions associated with dozens of companies that potentially had such debt. We recommended EXIM explore opportunities to use federal data when verifying companies' program eligibility.

https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-19-337


New EDC human-rights policy lacks power, say workers and watchdogs

(National Post, Ottawa,  May 2019) OTTAWA — Export Development Canada is declaring itself a leading defender of human rights, but workers groups and advocates say the Crown agency’s long-awaited new policy falls well short of what’s needed. The United Steel Workers of Canada declared it a missed chance to show leadership in global finance, business and human rights. The arrival of the new policy comes as Canadian businesses and human-rights advocates await a legal review by International Trade Minister Jim Carr that will determine the powers of the government’s new “ombudsperson for responsible enterprise.” Karen Hamilton, the spokeswoman for Above Ground, a non-governmental agency that specializes in tracking human rights infractions involving businesses, said the group hopes Carr’s legal review leads to a change in EDC’s legislation to make stronger human rights obligations mandatory. “If we really want to see change, it has to be legislated,” Hamilton said.

https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/new-edc-human-rights-polic...


What's New April 2019

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-at-eca-watch.org

See all "What's New!" updates since 2005 here.

  • European Commission consultation on short-term export credit rules
  • SNC-Lavalin insider's bribery allegations spark EDC probe
  • German parliament approves ECA supported sale of 6 heavy frigates to Egypt
  • EFIC Reform Puts Pacific ‘Step-Up' at Risk
  • India's Jet Airways delays payments to global lenders guaranteed by ExIm
  • Riyadh aims to counter Tehran’s influence with Iraq ECA credits
  • Iran's ECA Reassures Foreign Trade Partners
  • China gives Naftogaz $1 billion ECA guarantee
  • Eskom’s black hole of debt keeps on getting bigger
  • How Gujarat fishermen won US top court ruling against global funding
  • UAE ECA ECI voted as observer member of Berne Union
  • Australian cattle exported to Sri Lanka under EFIC project dying and malnourished

European Commission consultation on short-term export credit rules

(UKIF, London, 30 Aprill 209) The European Commission is inviting relevant stakeholders to participate in a consultation on the short-term export-credit insurance Communication that is expiring at the end of 2020. The consultation is a backward-looking evaluation, to identify whether those rules should be prolonged in their current form or possibly updated. The deadline to submit contributions is 24 May 2019.

Respond to the survey.

Read the Commission communication to member states

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/european-commission-consultation-on-short-ter...


SNC-Lavalin insider's bribery allegations spark EDC probe

(CBC, Toronto, 3 April 2019) Export Development Canada has hired outside legal counsel to review some of its dealings with SNC-Lavalin. The review comes after a company insider told CBC News the engineering giant secured billions in loans from the Crown agency over the years, some of which he alleges was intended to pay bribes. EDC has denied knowledge of any improper payments, but last Friday said it is taking a closer look at a 2011 deal with SNC-Lavalin involving a $250-million project to refurbish the Matala hydroelectric dam in Angola. EDC has backed SNC-Lavalin projects in 19 countries since 1995. In 2012 the head of SNC-Lavalin's construction division was arrested in Switzerland for bribery in Libya. The sheer size of "technical fees" which could total as much as 10% of a project's overall budget should have raised flags. In 2013 the CBC and the Globe and Mail exposed secret payments for projects in Africa, India, Cambodia and Kazakhstan.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/snc-lavalin-export-development-canada-loans-1.507...


German parliament approves ECA supported sale of 6 heavy frigates to Egypt

(Middle East Monitor, London , 5 April 2019) The German Parliament Budget Committee has approved export credit guarantees to secure the sale of six heavy frigates worth €2.3 billion (US$2 billion) to Egypt from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. The ships can be supplied with weapons including guided missiles and torpedoes. Green Party Budget expert, Tobias Lindner, criticised the deal and highlighted Egypt’s human rights record. “The government’s arms export policy is becoming increasingly contradictory,” Lindner told Bild, adding that “people have been fighting for weeks against weapons deliveries to Saudi Arabia, while at the same time wanting to deliver frigates to the military dictatorship in Egypt.”

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190405-german-parliament-approves-sale-of-6-...


EFIC Reform Puts Pacific ‘Step-Up' at Risk

(Australian Council for International Development, Canberra, 14 Feb, 2019) ACFID has raised concerns about reform to Australia’s export credit agency - EFIC - as part of the Australian Government’s Pacific ‘step-up’ and is calling for the legislation to be referred to a parliamentary committee for scrutiny. The Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Support for Infrastructure Financing) Bill 2019 introduced to the House of Representatives proposes reform to EFIC so it can administer $1.2bn in callable capital to finance Australian businesses to build infrastructure overseas. The increase for EFIC from $200m to $1.2bn in callable capital and the Minister’s statement that EFIC will assist in administering loans for the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility (AIFFP) is cause for concern. ACFID stressed that it is untenable to have $1.2bn of taxpayers’ funding being used for Australian businesses without transparency in its delivery and reporting. A financial scale-up without the relevant capabilities and expertise within EFIC, and the lack of transparency over how EFIC will interact with other Government departments, raises very serious concerns in the aid sector over the suitability of EFIC in holding such a central role in administering new loan-finance. DFAT reassured the Senate that there was no need for any such requirement since Efic has signed up to various OECD export credit guidelines, and will “carefully assess” any number of things to ensure that only good projects are selected, in particular the country’s capacity to repay the loan. [ECA Watch note: The OECD Arrangement's "gentlemans' agreement" and peer review process has not proven much of a deterrent to bad practice, as show by the many flaws and concerns raised here on the ECA Watch web site.]

https://acfid.asn.au/media-releases/efic-reform-puts-pacific-%E2%80%98step-risk-...


India's Jet Airways delays payments to global lenders guaranteed by ExIm

(Money Control, Mumbai, 8 April 2019) India's' cash-strapped Jet Airways has delayed repayments to global lenders, including Citibank, that funded the purchase of its Boeing 777 planes the Economic Times reported. The repayments, worth over $18 billion, were due at the end of March. The banks loaned funds to the carrier based on guarantees from the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of the US, which can be invoked in case of a default. If a default occurs, it would be bad news for Jet as the US ECA would deregister and take back the planes. Almost two-thirds of Jet's fleet have been grounded due to non-payment of its dues.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/jet-airways-delays-payments-to-global...


Riyadh aims to counter Tehran’s influence with Iraq ECA credits

(Financial Times, Riyadh, 4 April 2019) Saudi Arabia is intensifying diplomatic efforts to boost ties with Iraq, as the kingdom aims to strengthen its influence on regional rival Iran’s doorstep. The kingdom’s harsh treatment of Shia clerics sparked demonstrations in Iraq, and many Iraqis blamed Saudi Arabia for fuelling hardline Sunni Islamist ideology that gave rise to the Isis extremist group. However, since 2016, Riyadh has taken a more nuanced view of Iraqi politics that aims at chipping away at Iranian influence by denying Tehran the sectarian card. Saudi officials arrived in the Iraqi capital this week, wielding a $1bn grant for a sports stadium. Last year the Saudis pledged a $1bn loan for reconstruction in Iraq, plus $500m in export credit.

https://www.ft.com/content/4e2a8558-56ef-11e9-91f9-b6515a54c5b1


Iran's ECA Reassures Foreign Trade Partners

(Financial Tribune, Tehran, 30 April 2019) CEO of the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran says the fund has taken special measures to shield exports from the negative impact of US sanctions. “In light of the new US sanctions and the fact that foreign traders do not receive Iranian bank [export] guarantees, the fund is willing and able to cover the commercial risks for exporters,” she noted. The EGFI said earlier that it wants to expand risk cover for export insurance by $2.5 billion in the current fiscal (started March 21) and increase the penetration rate of export guarantees.

https://financialtribune.com/articles/business-and-markets/97660/irans-eca-reass...


China gives Naftogaz $1 billion ECA guarantee

(Kyiv Post, Kyiv, 2 April 2019) China has been eyeing strategic investments and acquisitions across Ukraine for at least a year now – but a Chinese state-owned credit firm, Sinosure, appeared to up the stakes on April 2 as it inked a deal to provide $1 billion in insurance coverage to Ukrainian energy conglomerate Naftogaz. Naftogaz has said that the new Chinese insurance is essentially a financial guarantee on the company being able to attract debt financing and further direct investment from China. Naftogaz is the state-owned Ukrainian oil and gas monopoly that handles the extraction, refinement and transportation of natural gas and oil. Data shows that China might replace Russia as Ukraine’s largest single-nation trading partner if growth rates in bilateral commerce between the two countries remain steady or increase. Ukraine’s Western and NATO allies, especially Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom have expressed strong concerns about China’s interest in Ukraine – they warn that investments are largely driven by Chinese self-interest and could pose a security threat to the alliance and Ukraine.

https://www.kyivpost.com/business/china-gives-naftogaz-1-billion-guarantee-on-de...


Eskom’s black hole of debt keeps on getting bigger

(The Citizen, Johannesburg, 3 April 2019) Moody’s credit opinion issued yesterday on the heels of its recent decision to keep South Africa’s credit rating one level above junk, said elevated government debt and contingent liabilities risks from state-owned enterprises (SOEs), limited government’s ability to absorb shocks. The note came after Eskom’s announcement of a R2.5 billion loan from the New Development Bank in China on top of the R420 billion (US$29 billion) debt it’s already carrying, and there’s no say when the 670 MW of renewable energy it’s meant for, will come on line. Export credit agency finance is one of the sources Eskom is tapping as part of its R300 billion (US$21 billion) funding plan for the new build programme. More than three quarters of that funding has now been secured. On May 30, 2011, the Export Import Bank of the United States had loaned about R5.7 billion, adding at the time to “the R31 billion (US$2.2 billion) in export credit agency backed finance Eskom had already raised.

https://citizen.co.za/business/business-news/2110845/eskoms-black-hole-of-debt-k...


How Gujarat fishermen won US top court ruling against global funding

(Indian Express, Ahmedabad, 10 April 2019) On February 27, the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of a group of fishermen and a Gujarat village panchayat in a suit against the US-headquartered International Finance Corporation (IFC). The case, which now goes back to a US district court, relates to alleged pollution caused by a Gujarat-based power plant partly funded by IFC and Korean ECA KEXIM. Of the estimated project cost of $4.14 billion, $450 million was funded in 2008 by IFC, the Asian Development Bank advanced $450 million as loan, the Export Credit Agency of Korea extended another $800 million as loan, and CGPL raised around Rs 1.5 billion from Indian banks through debt. According to National Fish Worker’s Forum, a nationwide federation of fishermen organisations, the plant operates a cooling technology that requires much more water than the system it got clearance for. The water is eventually discharged into the sea, and the complainants have alleged that it has affected marine life. Budha Jam, leader of the fishermen community of Tragadi-Nal, says: “With marine life near the coast affected, we are forced to sail farther in search of fish. They also dredged the coast and seafloor for their outfall channel and deposited sand near a well, which was a source of drinking water. Water in the well has turned saline since.” Complainants add that coal dust and fly-ash from the plant are damaging date palms and chikoo trees in Navinal. [One wonders how KEXIM's adherence to the OECD's Common Approaches could have allowed this.]

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/how-gujarat-fishermen-won-us-top-cou...


UAE ECA ECI voted as observer member of Berne Union

(Times of Oman, Muscat, 28 April 2019) Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI), the UAE Federal credit insurance company, was voted in as an observer member of the Berne Union, a renowned global association that represents the global export credit and investment insurance industry. In 2018,Berne Union members delivered US$2.5 trillion of payment risk protection to banking institutions, exporters and investors which is equivalent to 13 per cent of total cross-border merchandise trade.

https://timesofoman.com/article/1208694/Business/Economy/ECI-voted-as-observer-m...


Australian cattle exported to Sri Lanka under EFIC project dying and malnourished

(ABC, Sydney, 4 April 2019) Hundreds of Australian and New Zealand cattle have died in a Federal Government-backed export deal with Sri Lanka, which local farmers say has left them broke, and in some cases, suicidal. Farmers and animal rights groups, as well as Sri Lanka's own auditor-general, want the export project stopped because they say it is poorly planned and inhumane. Angry Sri Lankan farmers have told the ABC the "high-yielding, pregnant dairy cows" they were promised were overpriced, unhealthy and infertile. Sri Lankan business consultant Mohammed Mausook Riyal, adding that the cows were the wrong breed for the climate, making them susceptible to disease, and farmers could not make a profit because of poor milk yield and low conception rates. Under the terms of the $100 million project, underwritten by the Australian Government's export credit agency, EFIC, the exporter, Wellard, was required to provide Sri Lankan farmers with facilities, training and veterinary support.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-04/australian-dairy-cattle-sent-to-sri-lanka...


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