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Germany was considered the world's export champion for a long time, until it was overtaken by China in 2009. Both nations provide officially supported export credits to national exporting organizations, but the two systems operate differently. German export credit guarantees serve as a substitute when the private market is unable to assume the risks of exporting companies. The German Export Credit Agency Euler Hermes is responsible for processing applications on behalf of the Federal Government. China belongs to the largest providers of export finance with the institutions China EXIM and Sinosure. While Germany is bound by the OECD consensus, which defines the level playing field, Chinese export credit agencies have greater flexibility not being bound by international rules or agreements.
Supporting the COVID-19 response in Asia and the Pacific—The role of the Asian Development Bank.
(2020)
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all countries of the Asia Pacific region over the last few months with far reaching economic, health and social consequences. To counter the impact, governments have accelerated their health spending and announced large macroeconomic stabilization and stimulus policy packages. As with past disasters and crises in the region, the Asian Development Bank has reacted with a number of targeted support interventions since the very early stages of the outbreak. In mid- April 2020, the Bank then put forward a comprehensive COVID-19 Response Package totalling $20 billion to support its member countries which rests on four pillars.
The last few months have proven that multilateral development banks like the Asian Development Bank have the ability to respond quickly and to mobilize significant resources for a global emergency like COVID-19. Whilst this financial supported is urgently needed at this point, attention will need to be paid on how debt sustainability for low- and middle-income countries can be ensured in the coming years. Given the unprecedented scale of and uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic, it may offer a window of opportunity to redesign the way developmental finance is coordinated and the way it is delivered. This also includes a chance to “build back better” and to focus on a sustainable, resilient and green recovery.
The aim of this essay is to point out the challenges and opportunities of government export credits and insurance in Europe. The Covid-19 pandemic confronted the entire world with new challenges. This also applied to the export financing and insurance market. Furthermore, there are also challenges that play a major role for ECAs regardless of the pandemic. However, the risks are also offset by opportunities that may enable European export credit agencies to prevail against international competition.
The focus of this essay is on the export credit agencies from Finland (Finnvera), Sweden (EKN) and Portugal (COSEC). As part of the European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) the three ECAs share many fundamental similarities but in some points they may also distinguish from each other.
The aim of this essay is to give an overview about recent developments of the government innovation funds of Sweden and Finland. In order to discover recent developments basic knowledge regarding innovation funds, funding structures and information about the two big funding agencies Vinnova Sweden and Business Finland is presented. Building on this information, the developments of the two funding agencies are compared and examined for similarities and differences. Both countries have a very similar structure in terms of the R&D sector and are striving with the same issues. Just as sustainability is a leading issue, the collaboration between the different shareholders is another main challenge. Both topics were negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Both Sweden and Finland had to really push forward innovation with financial support and political, strategic goals. Even though there are strong recent developments, the countries are facing the same challenges, do have similar funding structures and therefore have no big comparative strengths or weaknesses to each other.
Innovation Policies and Government Instruments – An illustration of Israel’s innovation system
(2021)
The aim of this paper is to introduce innovation policy measures, government instruments and conceptual approaches to promote innovation growth. Since Israel is increasingly establishing itself as a pioneer for innovation, this paper mainly refers to their innovation policy. This paper will explain why Israel's innovation policy is successful and which actors play a particularly important role in it. Using semi-structured interviews, government experts like the Israel Innovation Authority as well as companies like Bosch were asked about Israel’s national innovation system and its success which allowed diverse perspectives on the topic.
As the world economy rapidly decarbonises to meet global climate goals, the export credit sector must keep pace. Countries representing over two-thirds of global GDP have now set net zero targets, as have hundreds of private financial institutions. Public and private initiatives are now working to develop new standards and methodologies for shifting investment portfolios to decarbonisation pathways based on science.
However, export credit agencies (ECAs) are only at the beginning stages of this seismic transformation. On the one hand, the net zero transition creates risks to existing business models and clients for the many ECAs, while on the other, it creates a significant opportunity for ECAs to refocus their support to help countries and trade partners meet their climate targets. ECAs can best take advantage of this transition, and minimise its risks, by setting net zero targets and adopting credible plans to decarbonise their portfolios. Collaboration across the sector can be a powerful tool for advancing this goal.
The aim of the essay is to identify current trends in infrastructure financing in times of net zero, crucial challenges, and solutions to overcome these issues. To gain information, a fundamental literal research, and interviews with infrastructure financing specialists of development banks were conducted. The growing importance of climate aspects for financing decisions, the changing sources of infrastructure funding and the increased role of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) can be listed as the most important trends. The main challenges are the financing gap for infrastructure, the high investment risks and a lack of standards, and policies regarding climate neutrality. To overcome these challenges, innovative financing solutions and the merging of public and private funding have been identified as potential solutions.
In a dynamic global landscape, the role of UK Export Finance (UKEF) and other export credit agencies (ECAs) has never been more important. Access to finance is critical for exporters as it enables them to invest in production, expand operations, manage cash flow and mitigate trade risks. However, businesses face challenges in securing export finance and trade credit insurance as geopolitical and trade megatrends lead to increased political, market and credit risks. Drawing on qualitative data from 35 semi-structured interviews and expert discussions and based on the Futures Triangle analytical framework, this white paper analyses the geopolitical and trade megatrends that UKEF and other ECAs will face in the coming years. It presents novel findings about the implications for ECA mandates, strategies, products and operations: The evolution of mandates towards a “growth promoter”, the need to further scale up operations, the use of big data and artificial intelligence for risk analysis and forecasting, and the need to balance multiple and conflicting priorities, including export growth, support for small and medium-sized exporters, inclusive trade, climate action, and positive impact in developing markets.
The global pathway to net zero emissions by 2050 requires governments to implement and strengthen climate policies as global emissions are reaching record level. Climate finance plays a crucial role in the net zero transition. It refers to local, national or transnational financing seeking to support mitigation and adaptation actions that address climate change. Public export-import banks (EXIMs) and government export credit agencies (ECAs) are highly influential actors for climate action. Although there is no consensus among EXIMs and ECAs on how to define climate finance, 20 institutions assessed in this report give evidence that they significantly support climate action related transactions: EXIM and ECA financing and insurance amounted to EUR 6.7-8.4 billion in 2020, much more than estimated by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI). However, the results also show that EXIM and ECA lending and insurance activities must rise substantially in order to contribute to the climate finance volumes required by 2030 as estimated by CPI. To retain their current proportion relative to other climate finance flows, assessed institutions would need to increase their climate financing 6.8 times to between EUR 45.3 billion and EUR 57.4 billion by 2030.