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 January 2015

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! you can subscribe at www.eca-watch.org  Questions? Email info@eca-watch.org

  • MEPs challenge Trade Commissioner on controversial paper contradicting EU policy on coal financing
  • Some coal plant exports should get financial aid: EU policy paper
  • UK Government Has Given £1.76 Billion To Fossil Fuel Industries Abroad Since 2010
  • No mention of Export-Import Bank in President Obama's State of the Union Address
  • Skeptics Doubtful of U.S. Telecom Investment in Broadband-Starved Cuba
  • China needs more measures to boost exports
  • Pakistan's Exim Bank to be set up through executive order
  • Pakistan's Mobilink tests export credit guarantee for sukuk
  • Zimbabwe: Govt in Bid to Boost Export Credits
  • Export Credit Remains Strong for Satellite Industry

MEPs challenge Trade Commissioner on controversial paper contradicting EU policy on coal financing

(European Parliament, Brussels, 30 January 2015) Twelve members of the European Parliament from 5 of the 7 political groupings in the Parliament have written EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström to express their "deep concerns about a non-paper for an EU position for the OECD negotiations drafted by your DG. According to this paper, public subsidies for the export of coal fired plants would be maintained. We believe that this proposal would be inconsistent with EU policies, especially with the claim of international climate leadership in the year of the COP21 where the world will assess the credibility of developed countries’ commitments to fight climate change." A European group of Finance Ministry officials will meet Monday 2nd February to finalise the EU position on public support for coal power plants abroad.

http://stopclimatechange.net/fileadmin/content/documents/Letter_Export__Credits_...


Some coal plant exports should get financial aid: EU policy paper

(Reuters, Brussels, 15 January 2015) European makers of equipment for coal-fired power plants should receive financial help to export it, an EU discussion paper seen by Reuters says, in a clash with the bloc's declared aim to lead the global fight against climate change. Coal is the most polluting fossil fuel, emitting around twice as much carbon dioxide as natural gas when used to generate power. As a result, the European Union is phasing out subsidies for domestic coal plants by 2018 and the European Investment Bank has set an emissions limit for the energy for which it provides preferential loans, meaning coal is excluded. The United States, together with Britain and the Netherlands, has also pushed for a phase-out of coal export credits.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/15/us-eu-coal-idUSKBN0KO1T720150115


UK Government Has Given £1.76 Billion To Fossil Fuel Industries Abroad Since 2010

(CleanTechnica, 12 January 2015) The UK government has, over the years 2010–2014, provided support totaling £1.76 billion (via Export Credit Guarantees) to fossil fuel industries abroad, according to a recent analysis from the EnergyDesk... Prime Minister David Cameron has repeatedly (in recent times anyways) spoken against fossil fuel subsidies; and their use appears to go against “promises” made in the current coalition government’s manifesto.

http://cleantechnica.com/2015/01/12/uk-government-provided-support-totalling-1-7...


No mention of Export-Import Bank in President Obama’s State of the Union Address

(Washington Examiner, 20 January 2015) President Obama did not discuss the Export-Import Bank in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, although the bank faces a June expiration of its charter... Obama has called the bank "critical" to U.S. businesses... It has come under fire in recent years from conservative Republicans who say it is corporate welfare, benefiting a handful of companies such as Boeing while placing taxpayers at risk.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/no-mention-of-export-import-bank-in-state-of-t...


Skeptics Doubtful of U.S. Telecom Investment in Broadband-Starved Cuba

(Channel Partners, Arizona, 9 January 2015) After more than a half-century of animosity between the U.S. government and the Communist regime under Fidel Castro, and now his brother Raúl, the Obama administration moved last month to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba and create a framework that would facilitate economic dealings between the two nations... Richard Feinberg, Brookings Institute Fellow and former assistant to President Clinton, said it’s possible that the Export-Import Bank of the United States – the U.S.’s official export credit agency – could offer Cuba a line of credit.

http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/articles/2015/01/skeptics-doubtful-of-u-s-t...


China needs more measures to boost exports

(ECNS, Beijing, 15 January 2015) Zhou Shijian of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies says China needs another round of decisive measures to put its export growth on a firmer footing in 2015, amid declining demand in major foreign markets... In addition to the enforcement of previous measures such as paying export tax rebates faster, granting more loans to exporters, and increasing export credit insurance to small and medium-sized enterprises, Zhou said China must encourage more use of its currency in international trade, swap arrangements between central banks, bank deposits and bond trades.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2015/01-15/150873.shtml


Pakistan’s Exim Bank to be set up through executive order

(Business Recorder, Karachi, 17 January 2015) Pakistan has reportedly decided to establish the much-delayed EXIM Bank through an Executive Order after formal approval of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. This decision was taken at a meeting on January 8, 2015 held by the Ministry of Finance with representatives from the Ministry of Commerce, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Securities & Exchange Commission... The proposal to set up an EXIM Bank was part of the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2012-15 approved by the PPP government. However, the decision has yet to be implemented. Additional Finance Secretary briefed the meeting on the work done so far and shared a draft law prepared by the Ministry of Finance. The Finance Secretary emphasised that the Exim Bank is a budgetary initiative and should have been established by now with at least a basic structure in place.

http://www.brecorder.com/money-a-banking/198/1142933/


Pakistan’s Mobilink tests export credit guarantee for sukuk

(Reuters, 13 January 2015) Pakistan Mobile Communications (Mobilink), the country's largest telecommunications operator, plans to raise 6.9 billion rupees ($68.6 million) via Islamic bonds this quarter, Pakistan Credit Rating Agency said in a statement. The sukuk, which will be listed, have been rated AA by the rating agency and will include a partial credit guarantee of 966 million rupees. The sukuk would help fund the network expansion of Mobilink, a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Telecom Holding, which is in turn majority-owned by Russia's VimpelCom. The credit guarantee will be extended by Mauritius-based GuarantCo, a specialised financial guarantor indirectly owned by the development agencies of Britain, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/13/pakistan-mobile-sukuk-idUSL6N0US0AQ201...


Zimbabwe: Govt in Bid to Boost Export Credits

(Allafrica News, Harare, 20 January 2015) The Government has stepped up efforts to capacitate the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation whose major role is to boost exports. According to the Insurance and Pension Commission, plans to recapitalise the organisation were now advanced... Sources close to the development said that the recapitalisation of the corporation, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, was going to be tied to the recapitalisation of the central bank... The corporation was prohibited around 2012 from handling any new business due to its failure to raise the minimum capital required... Since then it has been working on the business that it had secured prior to its suspension from handling new business.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201501200597.html


Export Credit Remains Strong for Satellite Industry

(Mondaq, Washington, 9 January 2015) Satellite industry becomes fastest growing of U.S. Ex-Im Bank’s credit sectors, with growth from $50m to $1b in loans per year since 2010; Export Credit Agency of Russia announces plans to actively support ILS ; and Export Development Canada provides €123m in financing to Hispasat for procurement of Hispasat 1F.

http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/365532/Aviation/Space+Business+Review+Speci...


What's New December 2014

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! you can subscribe at www.eca-watch.org  Questions? Email info@eca-watch.org

  • Boeing expects ECAs to cover 15% of new aircraft finance
  • Biggest Arctic Gas Project Seeks Route Around US Russia Sanctions
  • Government should protect Dutch exports against corruption
  • Swiss and Chinese ECAs asked to fund bloated Bangladesh power plant costs
  • Italy’s small food-makers - Export or die? Is Small Beautiful?
  • UK Export Finance appoints former banker to head up its international business development division
  • SEK Securities is Merged into SEK
  • Ex-Im Bank Finances Export of American-made Bridge Components to Cameroon

Boeing expects ECAs to cover 15% of new aircraft finance

(24/7 Wall Street, London, 9 December 2014) Boeing on Tuesday morning released its 2015 aircraft finance market outlook. The headline number is $124 billion and the forecast amount for 1300 new commercial deliveries in 2015, up from $115 billion in 2014. The company’s Boeing Capital Corporation also forecasts deliveries totaling $156 billion in 2019. How all these airplanes will be paid for is the subject of Tuesday’s release. Boeing expects bank debt and capital markets to fund about 60% of all 2015 deliveries, with cash accounting for another 23% of funding and export credit to cover another 15%... An issue for the U.S. plane maker is that the U.S. Export-Impact Bank has ceased new dealings with Russia, Mr. Myer said. European export credit agencies are still open to backing Airbus Group NV deliveries to Russia... Another concern for the Chicago-based plane maker is continued uncertainty over the fate of ExIm in the U.S.

http://247wallst.com/aerospace-defense/2014/12/09/boeing-issues-strong-forecast-...


Biggest Arctic Gas Project Seeks Route Around US Russia Sanctions

(Bloomberg, Moscow, 23 December 2014) Total SA (FP) and its partners will use a record 16 ice-breaking tankers to smash through floes en route to and from the Arctic’s biggest liquefied natural-gas development. They’re still looking for a way around a freeze in U.S. financing... The U.S. Export-Import Bank this year halted a study into funding the plans to ship gas from Yamal, or End of Earth in the native Nenets tongue, to buyers around the world as President Barack Obama’s administration imposed sanctions on Russia. The action by the bank, which offers credit assistance to companies buying the nation’s goods and services, effectively blocked the project from borrowing in the U.S. currency... European governments, reliant on gas from Russia, have had to tread a fine line in their relations with the country since its annexation of Ukrainian Crimea led to sanctions. The U.S. and Europe have mostly targeted the Russian oil industry and individuals with ties to President Vladimir Putin rather than impose measures that could strangle the nation’s gas exports... One option for Paris-based Total is to look for help from home. Coface SA (COFA) is France’s answer to the U.S. Exim bank.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-22/biggest-arctic-gas-project-seeking-rout...


Government should protect Dutch exports against corruption

(Both Ends, Amsterdam, 24 December 2014)
by: Wiert Wiertsema, Both ENDS

The Brazilian oil company Petrobras is currently involved in a corruption scandal that affects all companies it has been working with. The Dutch enterprise SBM Offshore paid bribes to Petrobras, and recently settled this matter with the Dutch Public Prosecution for US$240 million. But SBM Offshore is still under further investigation in Brazil and, for now, cannot do business there. In addition, the US Justice Department has started to fully investigate all Dutch companies that have done business with Petrobras. Companies such as Boskalis, Van Oord, IHC Merwede and Fugro - showpieces of the internationally renowned Dutch water and shipbuilding sectors – are at risk of getting large penalties or being excluded from new procurements abroad.

http://www.bothends.org/en/News/Weblog/weblog/47/


Swiss and Chinese ECAs asked to fund bloated Bangladesh power plant costs

(The Finacial Express, Dhaka, 29 November 2014) Nearly 40 per cent of the Tk 25.19 billion (US$323.4 M) sought for a proposed power sector project are set to be spent for less-important matters, including purchase of vehicles and foreign training, officials said Wednesday. Such huge spending of the project money on ancillary things has given rise to questions about proper cost estimation and economic viability of the project, they said... Power Division officials said the PDB signed deal with Swiss company Alstom and Chinese company CMC on January 12 this year for the re-powering of the Ghorashal 3rd power unit... The PDB has also selected the Swiss Export Credit Agency (SERV) and the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE) for borrowing Tk 20.19 billion ($259.75 million) buyer's credits.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2014/11/29/68434


Italy’s small food-makers - Export or die? Is Small Beautiful?

(The Economist, Castel del Piano, 2 January 2015) The smaller, often family-owned manufacturers that are the backbone of the Italian economy have been hit especially hard: between 2008 and the first half of 2014, a fifth of them went bankrupt or into administration, or were voluntarily wound up. One of the main reasons so many have gone to the wall is that they are too focused on the home market. Italian businesses of all sizes are much less likely to have export customers than German or Spanish ones, according to a recent study by SACE, Italy’s official export-credit agency. Italian cuisine is popular all over the world, but Italy’s countless small food producers get only a morsel of this huge global market: exports account for a smaller share of the Italian food industry’s output than in either France or Germany... Businesses are looking abroad for customers, and for saviours. Italy does not have a globalised food retailer on the same scale as other European countries and its domestic market is fragmented: even those chains with national coverage often stock different products in different regions, chosen by different local purchasing managers... Deep discounters like Aldi and Lidl, which offer only a restricted range of products, most of them under their own labels, have been taking market share from conventional grocers which sell a broader range, including many products bearing their manufacturers’ brands... Over four-fifths of Italian food manufacturers are family-run and with annual revenues of less than €10m. With their home market still struggling, a rich foreign backer may be just what they need.

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21637397-businesses-are-looking-abroad-cu...


UK Export Finance appoints former banker to head up its international business development division

(Creditman, London, 19 December 2014) UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, has appointed David Ludlow as its new Head of international business development... Of his new challenge, Ludlow said: “I have seen how export credit agencies can play a key role in effectively opening up new markets for exporters. I’m looking forward to ensuring that more companies are aware of the financial support available from UKEF to exporters, and helping those businesses make a major contribution in the global marketplace.”

http://www.creditman.biz/uk/members/news-view.asp?newsviewID=20848


SEK Securities is Merged into SEK

(Business Wire, Stockholm, 5 December 2014) The Swedish Export Credit Corporation's (SEK) wholly owned subsidiary AB SEK Securities has been merged (by absorption of a wholly owned subsidiary) into SEK. The merger results in SEK taking on the assets and debts of AB SEK Securities. AB SEK Securities has been licensed by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority since 2002 to conduct securities trading. Its operations are being transferred to the parent company now that SEK is licensed to conduct this type of business.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20141205005136/en/AB-Svensk-Export-UK-Regu...


Ex-Im Bank Finances Export of American-made Bridge Components to Cameroon

(PRNewswire-USNewswire, Washington, 11 December 2014) The Export-Import Bank of the United States will guarantee a $50 million loan to finance the export of 55 American made bridge sets to Cameroon and support 200 U.S. jobs. The loan, extended by Société Générale to Cameroon's Ministry of Public Works, facilitates the export of modular steel bridges manufactured by the Acrow Corporation of America, a small business based in Parsippany, N.J.

http://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/2014/12/11/ex-im-bank-finances-export-of-am...


ECA Watch releases report 'ECAs and Human Rights: Failure to Protect'

GENEVA - December 3, 2014.

International civil society network ECA Watch released a new report today titled Export Credit and Human Rights: Failure to Protect at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights. The report calls on states to fulfill their duty to protect human rights through the operations of their export credit agencies.                   

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