President Franklin Roosevelt created the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) in 1934 to promote US trade in the midst of the Great Depression. At the outset, the Ex-Im Bank was instructed to supplement, not compete with, private sources of export finance. Historically, the Ex-Im Bank filled gaps when the private sector was reluctant to finance exports to politically uncertain areas--such as Latin America in the 1940s, Europe in the 1950s, and emerging markets more recently. Critics now ask whether--in the current era of vast private capital markets--significant financing gaps still exist that require government action. Put bluntly, should the Ex-Im Bank still be playing a role in financing US exports to emerging markets? Since the 1970s, the Ex-Im Bank has faced a new challenge: helping US exporters meet the financial competition from foreign export credit agencies (ECAs)--such as COFACE in France and the Export-Import Bank of Japan. The Ex-Im Bank has tried to cope with foreign ECAs in two different ways. One way is to negotiate common rules for export financing, under OECD auspices. The other is to match credit terms offered by foreign ECAs. A central question for the Ex-Im Bank in the 21st century is whether this dual strategy still provides a viable answer to an array of new forms of competition spawned by foreign ECAs. The Institute for International Economics sponsored a conference in May 2000, both to honor the Bank's 65th anniversary and to look ahead at challenges facing the Ex-Im Bank. This volume--edited by former director of the Bank, Rita Rodriguez, and Institute Senior Fellow Gary Clyde Hufbauer--presents the papers from the conference. The papers both describe the Bank's current environment and identify new problems and opportunities in a global economy characterized by highly sophisticated private finance and intense competition for export markets. This volume provides an analytical basis for evaluating the Ex-Im Bank's future and suggests options that should be considered by President George W. Bush and Congress. Contributors: Robert Rubin * James Harmon * Lorenz Schomerus * J. David Richardson * Renato Sucupira * Mauricio Moreira * William Cline * Peter Evans * Kenneth Oye * Allan Mendelowitz * William Niskanen * Robert Nardelli * John Lipsky * Daniel Zelikow *Robert Hormats * Hans Reich * A. Ian Gillespie * Fumio Hoshi * William Daley * James Leach * Lawrence Summers

Southern-Led Development Finance examines some of the innovative new south-south financial arrangements and institutions that have emerged in recent years, as countries from the Global South seek to transform their economies and to shield themselves from global economic turbulence. Even before the Covid-19 crisis, it was clear to many that the global economy needed a reset and a massive increase in public investment. In the last decade southern-owned development banks, infrastructure funds, foreign exchange reserve funds and Sovereign Wealth Funds have doubled the amount of long-term finance available to developing countries. Now, as the world considers what a post-Covid-19 future will look like, it is clear that Southern-led institutions will do much of the heavy lifting. This book brings together insights from theory and practice, incorporating the voices of bankers, policymakers and practitioners alongside international academics. It covers the most significant new initiatives stemming from Asia, tried and tested examples in Latin America and in Africa, and the contribution of advanced economies. Whilst the book highlights the potential for Southern-led initiatives to change the global financial landscape profoundly, it also shows their varied impacts and concludes that more is needed for development than just the technical availability of funds. As governments and businesses become frustrated by the traditional North-dominated mechanisms and international financial system, this book argues that southern-led development finance will play an important role in the search for more inclusive, equitable and sustainable patterns of investment, trade and growth in the post-Covid landscape. It will be of interest to practitioners, policy makers, researchers and students working on development and finance everywhere.

This book provides a brief explanation of the government agencies programmes (i.e. type of export financing, eligibility, terms, fees, etc.) and specific contact information for next step action. In addition, there are a number of case studies that provide examples of how these government programs have successfully been used.