ABSTRACT
A comparative assessment of US Eximbank's activities with those of its major competitors indicates that despite Eximbank's efforts to match its competitors, a number of constraints prevent the Bank from offering competitive financing for US exports. Medium-term German export finance is usually provided by the private sector although supported by official credit insurance. In addition to terms, formal and informal procedures that an official export financing organization follows are of particular interest to an exporter, and thus contribute to an effective export policy. Since Congress annually sets an authorization ceiling on Eximbank's direct lending, it limits the amount and number of credits that the Bank can provide. Many large-scale projects such as large infrastructure or manufacturing facilities involve the purchase of goods and services from a number of countries, including some--such as labor--from the importing country. Official export credit financing is provided through the Export-Import Bank of Japan, a government financial institution established in 1950.
