IMF Report: Officially Supported Export Credits in a Changing World

4 Feb. 4 2005, IMF Washington: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) prepared a report on ECAs in a changing world which was cited by the OECD ECG Chair as a background reference for their own Oct.3, 2005 consultation, "highlighting the key challenges facing ECAs, including... facilitating financing to low-income countries while helping maintain these countries' debt sustainability...". The IMF's Executive Summary notes that "private sector appetite at present remains limited in certain markets, particularly in long-term credits, very large projects, small- and medium-enterprises, and markets considered as high risk, such as a number of low-income countries. In these circumstances, official export credit agencies may be able to play a useful role by filling in the market gaps, where national and international interests warrant, while continuing to curtail distortionary subsidies under the OECD Arrangement and the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.