UK Chancellor George Osborne announces export credit scheme

(Guardian, London, 8 April 2014) Banks will have access to a Bank of England facility to make it less risky for them to finance exports under a new scheme to boost Britain's trade announced by George Osborne on April 7. Speaking in Brazil, the chancellor said billions of pounds of extra loans would be made available to UK firms competing in global markets after the Bank broadened the support it provides to lenders. Osborne has set British companies a target of doubling exports to £1tn by 2020. Loans guaranteed by Britain's export credit agency, UK Export Finance (UKEF), will now fall under the Bank's sterling monetary framework, which provides financial help in times of unexpected stress.