February 2016
The Export-Import Bank, commonly called Ex-Im, has released its Fiscal Year 2015 Annual Report highlighting its support of more than $17 billion in U.S. exports and an estimated 109,000 American jobs. The bank also announced it has transferred $431.6 million in deficit-reducing receipts to the U.S. Treasury’s General Fund for fiscal year 2015.
The Ex-Im Bank is an independent, self-sustaining federal agency that operates at no cost to U.S. taxpayers. Nearly 90 percent of the bank’s authorizations directly benefit small businesses.
SIU President Michael Sacco has often spoken about the importance of the Ex-Im Bank to the maritime industry. While the bank was defunded in 2015, he stated, “The program’s significance for our industry is that cargoes generated by Ex-Im funding must be transported aboard U.S.-flag vessels. In that light, the program is important not only to U.S. economic security but also national security, because it helps sustain the U.S. Merchant Marine and American-flag vessels.”
As explained in the report issued in mid-January, the bank’s function is twofold: “When businesses in the United States or their customers are unable to access export financing from the private sector, Ex-Im Bank fills in the gap by equipping American businesses with the tools necessary to compete for global sales. Ex-Im does this in two principal ways. First, when exporters in the United States or their customers are unable to access export financing from private sources, the Bank equips them with the necessary tools – buyer financing, export credit insurance and access to working capital. Second, when U.S. exporters face foreign competition backed by other governments, Ex-Im levels the playing field by matching or countering the financing offered by other export credit agencies.”
Among the highlights from the 2015 Annual Report:
– Ex-Im helped maintain 109,000 American jobs
– Ex-Im supported $17 billion in exports at no cost to American taxpayers
– Ex-Im supported more than $3.1 billion of exports from U.S. small businesses
– Nearly 90 percent of transactions directly supported U.S. small businesses
– Ex-Im Bank had a default rate of 0.235 percent as of Sept. 30, 2015
– The organization remitted $431.6 million to the U.S. Treasury for debt reduction.
“The Bank is proud to help level the playing field for American businesses who offer the world’s highest-quality goods and services to global markets,” said Fred P. Hochberg, Ex-Im chairman and president. “In the months ahead, we will redouble our efforts to ensure U.S. businesses – particularly small businesses – have every tool available to be on equal footing with their foreign competitors to win sales and create more jobs.”
The bank was successfully reauthorized as part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, which was passed into law on Dec. 4, 2015. The new charter has authorized the bank through 2019.
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