Opening New Markets

As America continues its economic recovery, exports will continue to be a powerful engine driving U.S. economic growth and job creation. The HSBC Global Connections Trade Forecast, which was released in mid-2012, projects a 95 percent expansion of U.S. trade activity by 2026, with annual growth of nearly five percent expected for the next decade.

Ex-Im Bank will continue to play a key role in making possible this trade growth, supporting American exporters as they work to reach new customers abroad and create jobs here at home. The Bank enables U.S. companies to seize sales opportunities in markets where they would not otherwise be able to compete due to risks or lack of available trade credit from private-sector lenders.

The Bank is open for business in approximately 200 countries on six continents. When the private sector is unwilling or unable to provide financing, Ex-Im can assist creditworthy transactions through its principal financing products or through financing arrangements that eliminate or externalize country risks, thereby enabling businesses to increase exports and grow.

The Bank has identified nine key markets for priority focus: Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Turkey and Vietnam. These countries were selected based on number of factors, including the size of the export market for U.S. companies, projected economic growth, anticipated infrastructure demand and need for Ex-Im financing.

The infrastructure needed in these countries and other developing markets is especially significant. Over the next five years, analysts expect more than $2 trillion in cumulative infrastructure investment in these nine countries alone. This investment will generate a tremendous increase in demand for products and services that U.S. exporters are well-positioned to provide. As a result, international infrastructure development will be an important source for American job creation.

In FY 2012:

• The largest region in Ex-Im Bank’s portfolio was Asia, which the Bank defines as a region stretching from the Pacific Rim to the Middle East. At the close of FY 2012, the Bank’s exposure in Asia was $42.3 billion, a 29 percent increase from FY 2011.

• The Bank’s total authorizations in Asia have increased $4 billion over the FY 2011 level and are up $10 billion since FY 2008. Asian authorizations in FY 2012 included financing of a nuclear-power project in the United Arab Emirates, a petrochemical project in Saudi Arabia, a telecommunications satellite to Vietnam and commercial aircraft sales to several East Asian countries, including China.

• The fastest-growing region for Ex-Im Bank financing was Oceania (including Australia), where the Bank’s portfolio was $8.3 billion at the fiscal year’s end. This represents a nearly 55 percent increase over the Bank’s exposure in the region at the end of FY 2011. The Bank provided strong support for U.S. exports to Australia in FY 2012, authorizing $3.2 billion in financing for the sales of commercial aircraft, a telecommunications satellite, and equipment and services for a liquefied natural-gas project.

• Ex-Im Bank authorized nearly $5.5 billion for U.S. exports to the nine target country markets. The greatest amount of financing activity among these countries was in Mexico, where the Bank authorized more than $2.8 billion to support exports of telecommunications satellites, commercial aircraft, locomotives, and equipment and services for oil and gas projects of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex).

• The Bank continued its strong support for U.S. exports to sub-Saharan Africa, financing approximately 7 percent of U.S. merchandise exports to this region. In FY 2012, the Bank reached a historic high of over $1.5 billion in authorizations for sub-Saharan Africa, including support for the first sale of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft to Ethiopian Airlines and sales of mining equipment by Caterpillar Inc. to Eqstra, a pan-African distributor of industrial equipment based in South Africa.