Ex-Im Bank Export Financing Sets Record High

Financing Exceeds $32 Billion for the First Time, Fueled by Dramatic Rise in Key Industry Sectors

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In preliminary Fiscal Year 2011 figures released today, Ex-Im Bank reported that it had for the third-straight year set export finance records in a number of key areas, including overall financing that for the first time exceeded $32 billion and supported about $40.6 billion in exports at more than 3,600 U.S. companies, helping to support approximately 290,000(1) export-related American jobs.

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Fiscal year 2011 ended on September 30th, and the Bank released preliminary data today while it completes the closing of its books for the year.

"U.S. exports are contributing to our economic recovery and the record-setting growth of Ex-Im export financing is helping support that trend," said Gene Sperling, the director of the National Economic Council. "American exporters and Ex-Im remain on track to achieve President Obama's goal of doubling U.S. exports by the end of 2014."

"Ex-Im Bank financing is helping to support hundreds of thousands of American jobs in cities across the country," said Fred P. Hochberg, Ex-Im chairman and president. "Today's numbers show that exports can help small and medium sized businesses successfully compete in the global economy."

Infrastructure-related financing reached $21.0 billion, up over 130 percent compared to FY 2008, representing, in part, the effect of the Bank's emphasis on nine developing countries with rapidly growing infrastructure needs.  

In particular, the transportation sector FY 2011 volume was $12.4 billion, up from $5.3 billion in FY 2008.  

Small business financing rose over 70 percent from $3.3 billion in FY 2008 to $6 billion in FY 2011 and is up $1 billion from last year. As part of its efforts to increase this portfolio, Ex-Im Bank's Global Access for Small Business initiative has held more than 20 forums across the country this year, reaching 4,000 small business exporters. For information on Ex-Im Bank's small business transactions, please visit: http://www.exim.gov/sbgport/SB_success.cfm.

In FY 2011 the Bank also showed substantial increases in several markets. For example, export financing for sub-Saharan Africa exceeded 1.4 billion for the first time, financing of environmentally-beneficial exports more than tripled from $227 million in FY 2008 to $908 million in FY 2011; and renewable-energy exports increased to $726 million in FY 2011 from $30 million in FY 2008.

Among the nine countries the Bank has identified as having the greatest potential for U.S. exporters, Colombia, India, South Africa, and Turkey have shown impressive increases compared to FY 2008.  Export financing for Colombia increased to $3.7 billion from $66 million; India increased to $2.9 billion from $1.8 billion, and Turkey increased to $2.1 billion from $586 million.  

About Ex-Im Bank
Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. The Bank receives no net appropriation from the U.S. Congress and charges interest and fees to fund its transactions. This year, the Bank has generated $300 million for U.S. taxpayers.  

The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit insurance and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services.  

(1) Ex-Im Bank's preliminary report of approximately 290,000 jobs supported by its $40 billion in FY'11 export sales of goods and services is based on a formula of 7,250 jobs per $1 billion in export sales. This formula is derived from employment data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) which quantifies jobs associated with about 200 industry categories.  Ex-Im Bank computed its unique jobs per $1 billion figure in proportion to the industries it supports.

SOURCE Export-Import Bank of the United States