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What's New! Vol. 10, No. 12
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1) |
OECD fails to agree on revised Common Approaches on export credit & the environment
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2) |
Outrage at UK's $1bn export credit loan deal with
Brazil oil giant
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3) |
Export credit guarantees: The real cause of developing country debt
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4) |
ECA Watch submission to the UN Working Group on Human Rights and Business |
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5) |
ECGD - UK Ministers accused of fiddling aid figures with 'made-up money'
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6) |
Berne Union voices concerns about world trade
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7) |
Boeing sees no aircraft financing gap in 2012
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8) |
The Brookings Institution - Population Displacement and Export Credit
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9)
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CEDHA report outlines violations of Equator Principles of mining project under ECA consideration
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10)
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Nigeria's NEXIM Bank Disburses N70bn, $322m
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11)
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Santos Obtains $1.2 Billion in Debt Financing to Help Fund LNG Projects
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12)
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US business worries Eximbank may hit credit ceiling |
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View Back Issues of What's New |
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| 1. |
OECD fails to agree on revised Common Approaches on export credit & the environment
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| (ECA Watch, Ottawa, 30 December 2011) In June 2007, the OECD's Export Credit Working Group agreed
"in the light of experience, [to] review all elements of [the Common
Approaches] Recommendation not later than the end of 2010 and report to
Council." After more than a year of negotiations, they have failed to
agree on revisions of the standards for addressing environmental issues
relating to exports of capital goods and services. ECA Watch presented two sumissions to
the 14 November OECD Export Credit Working Group CSO consultation
covering our comments on both the Common Approaches and the Sector Understanding on renewable energy, climate change mitigation and water projects.
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| 2. |
Outrage at UK's $1bn export credit loan deal with
Brazil oil giant
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(Independent, London, 11 December 2011) NGOs say Ministers have reneged
on a coalition promise to champion British firms investing in clean
energy. A deal, which will see UK Export Finance guarantee a loan to
the Brazilian oil firm Petrobras for deep-water oil drilling, is
contrary to a government commitment that the department would champion
British firms involved in green technologies "instead of supporting
investment in dirty fossil-fuel energy production".
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Export credit guarantees: The real cause of developing country debt
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| (Eurodad,
Brussels, 6 December 2011) Export Credit Agencies are debt-creating
agencies. The loans they create are driven by the interests of
exporters and their home countries, rather than a concern for whether
the loans are useful to the host country. This report shows that export
credit guarantees are at the root of most developing country debt owed
to European governments. Eurodad assessed the debts owed by developing
countries to 4 European countries and found that almost 80 percent of
poor countries’ debts to other governments came from export credits,
not development loans.
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| 4 |
ECA Watch submission to the UN Working Group on Human Rights and Business (PDF)
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(ECA
Watch, Ottawa, 8 December 2011) ECA Watch's submission notes, despite
growing clarity that there is a state duty to protect human rights,
which includes the operations of state institutions, including export
credit agencies (ECAs), ECAs continue to finance exports and
investments that are associated with human rights abuse. The submission
is also available in Spanish
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UK Ministers accused of fiddling aid figures with 'made-up money'
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(Ekklesia, London, 30 December 2011) The Department for International Development admits
that if the UK writes off export credit debt owed by Sudan, the money will
be counted as aid. But critics point out that Sudan has made no
repayments for 27 years and that nobody realistically expects them to do
so. DFID made the admission in an email to the Jubilee Debt Campaign. The NGO
calculates that cancellation of Sudan's debt could account for around
7% of the UK's aid budget.
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| 6. |
Berne Union voices concerns about world trade
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| (CreditMan, London, 5 December 2011) “Despite the co-ordinated Central Banks’ actions over the last months we
need quick and powerful solutions this week”, says Johan Schrijver,
President of the Berne Union. This is the world association of export
credit insurance companies, insuring annually $ 1.5 trillion, or roughly
10% of world cross-border trade.
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| 7. |
Boeing sees no aircraft financing gap in 2012
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(Forex
News, 6 December 2011) Boeing forcasts airlines will avert a shortfall
in aircraft financing next year by relying increasingly on capital
markets and alternative sources as pressure grows on European banks...
Export credit agencies such as the Export-Import Bank in the United
States should see their share remain static at 30 percent... Boeing had
proposed that export credit agencies such as ExIm should, for a fee,
cover bondholders for the political risk that a country would fail to
apply the Cape Town Convention, leaving them with the commercial credit
and asset risk.
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| 8. |
The Brookings Institution - Population Displacement and Export Credit
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| (Brookings Institute, Washington, 6 December 2011) Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are increasingly a product not only
of conflicts and natural disasters, but also of a growing number of
private or public sector infrastructure projects building mines, plants,
dams, roads, etc. with finance made available to private construction companies
and banks through, inter alia, the Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) of the
34 OECD countries.
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| 9. |
CEDHA outlines violations of Equator Principles of mining project under ECA consideration (PDF)
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| (CEDHA,
Buenos Aires, 25 November 2011) Barrick
Gold’s mining operations in Argentina and Chile, particularly at the
Pascua Lama gold project (set to commence in the near future), but also
at the adjacent and related Veladero project which has been in
operation for several years, fail to comply with the social and
environmental norms of the Equator Principles. Export Development
Canada (EDC) and the US Export Import Bank (Exim Bank) are considering
providing financing to Barrick Gold for the Pascua Lama project.
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| 10. |
Nigeria's NEXIM Bank Disburses N70bn, $322m
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| (This
Day, Kano, 13 December 2011) Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM Bank)
has disclosed that the bank has disbursed a total of about N70 billion
(US$431 million) and US$322 Million in supporting over 900 export projects.
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| 11. |
Santos Obtains $1.2 Billion in Debt Financing to Help Fund LNG Projects
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(Bloomberg, Sydney, 22 December 2011) Santos
Ltd., the Australian energy company building the $16 billion Gladstone
liquefied natural gas project in Queensland state, obtained $1.2
billion in debt facilities backed by three government export credit
agencies. Export credit agencies from Australia, Canada and Italy
helped obtain the loans.
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| 12. |
US business worries Eximbank may hit credit ceiling |
| (Reuters,
Washington, 2 December 2011) The U.S. Export-Import Bank, which helps
big exporters such as Boeing and Caterpillar make foreign sales, might
have to stop operations unless Congress raises its $100 billion
"exposure cap," said U.S. government and business officials. |
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