Export-Credit Agencies and Development-Finance Institutions

This chapter covers the types of cross-border support which may be available for projects, especially in developing countries. There are three main sources of such support: (1) export-credit agencies, which provide loans, or financial- or political-risk insurance or guarantees, for exports of capital equipment to projects outside the country concerned (§16.2); ECAs also provide political-risk cover for investors—but obviously not cover for commercial risks (§16.3). (2) bilateral DFIs, which provide ‘untied’ loans, or political-risk insurance or guarantees, generally for projects outside the country concerned (i.e. not linked to specific exports from the country concerned); these frequently work with their national ECAs; these may include both development agencies which also provide aid, as well as development-finance institutions or funds; the various types of support offered by the leading ECAs and bilateral DFIs are discussed in §16.4. (3) multilateral DFIs—these provide support for all types of projects, mainly but not entirely in developing countries (§16.5).