State aid: Commission approves German export credit scheme
16 September 2009
Germany proposes to introduce a scheme to facilitate the refinancing of existing export credits, thereby providing banks with appropriate funding to grant new export credits.
Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said: “I am satisfied that this German measure would contribute to limit the adverse impact of the current financial and economic crisis on the availability of export credit without giving rise to disproportionate distortions of competition."
Due to the financial crisis, banks can currently experience severe difficulties in finding long-term funding which can make them very reluctant to grant new export credits (i.e. long-term loans to foreign customers to finance the purchase of products sold by a national producer).
In this context, Germany proposes to introduce a scheme to facilitate the refinancing of existing export credits, thereby providing banks with appropriate funding to grant new export credits. KfW will buy from export financing banks existing loans covered by a 100% export credit insurance scheme from the Federal Government. The banks that sold such loans to KfW and received liquidity in exchange would have to provide new export loans to customers outside the EU of the same value as the financing received from KfW. The new loans would have to comply with the conditions of the OECD Arrangement on Export Credits, including maturity limitations.
© European Commission
