ECI spotlights role of govt-backed export credit agencies in Trade & Export

ECI spotlights role of govt-backed export credit agencies in Trade & Export

The UAE federal export credit company, Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI) has emphasized the role of government-supported export credit agencies in filling financial gaps in trade and export businesses, especially in meeting the short-term working capital requirements, at the TXF Middle East & Africa: Export and Project Finance 2022.

During the keynote address at the event, Mr. Massimo Falcioni, CEO of ECI stated that, at the beginning of COVID-19, the OECD had predicted that governments would look at their export credit agencies (ECAs) to fill any financing gaps left by the private market. They predicted that ECAs would be able to mitigate the impact of the crisis by engaging in short-, medium- and long-term business finance.

Mr. Falcioni remarked that “True enough, we have seen trade and export-related businesses experiencing trade finance problems due to increased costs of short-term financing for SMEs and higher rates of rejected applications. In response to this, government-backed ECAs have responded timely by increasing their trade finance support to businesses. At ECI, our support to UAE exporters in the non-oil sector increased by 260 percent in 2021 to AED18 billion compared to AED5 billion in the previous year.”

The ECI CEO further added that at the recently concluded and