Export Credit Programs Research Articles

Non-resource exports of developed and developing countries: Major support measures and challenges of the current stage

Aim. The presented study aims to form an objective idea of factors affecting the system of support for non-resource exports and ensuring the validity of decisions.Tasks. The authors summarize the main ways of supporting non-resource exports of developed and developing countries; analyze changes in the international regulation of export activities associated with the formation of national support systems for commodity producers; systematize major opportunities for supporting export credits.Methods. This study analyzes the practices of export credit agencies in various countries in the context of opportunities provided to foreign trade participants; identifies problem areas typical for the current stage of development of trade relations; draws attention to emerging contradictions in the field of support for national non-resources exports by countries.Results. It is shown that the participants of the Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits (OECD) operate in an extremely aggressive, yet increasingly unmanageable environment. To secure export contracts, both the domestic industry and the export credit agencies of the OECD member countries should enhance competitiveness by following the rules of the trading system. Otherwise, they risk upsetting the balance on the playing field and hinder sustainable development.Conclusions. The participants of the OECD Arrangement face a difficult tactical choice: either to take a strong position in support of competition both within the country and within international organizations (WTO, OECD), or to develop their own export credit programs that are not related to the OECD Arrangement. The first option, although preferable in terms of ensuring economic efficiency, long-term competitiveness, and sustainable development, may lead to a reduced role of export credit agencies.

U.S. Financial Aid for Iraq Under the Engagement Policy, 1988–1990

This article reframes our understanding of the pre-Gulf War U.S. policy toward Iraq away from the issue of why the Bush administration ignored evidence that Saddam Hussein was not reciprocating U.S. efforts to moderate his behavior. Rather, it asks why the Bush administration did not consider Saddam’s abuse of U.S. export credit programs as relevant for evaluating Iraqi intentions and the efficacy of the engagement policy. It traces debates among federal agencies about two export credit programs to show that strategic considerations drove decisions to preserve or suspend these programs even though Iraq’s financial behavior offered insights earlier in time about its strategic intentions. While the Bush administration intended for engagement to reward or punish Saddam depending on his behavior, my examination of export credit controversies shows that it did not establish a rationale for deciding when and how to punish Iraq for threatening or abusive behavior.

Microeconomic Analysis of Export Credit Program

The aim of this paper is to study theoretical aspects of export credit insurance in the framework of microeconomics and analyze the economic impacts of an export credit program on trade flows within a framework of a microeconomic analysis. A multi-country trade model has been developed based on optimization methods and algorithm. For our theoretical analysis, we consider a multi-country trade model when one of countries imports an export good from other countries.

Efektivitas Official Development Assistance Jepang terhadap Negara Resipien

Japan has been well-known due to its advanced technology innovation particularly in the field of industrial technology. Some Japanese manufactures that based on technological development have become the main supplier of high-technology goods in many countries in the world most importantly in Asia. Since 1970s, Japan government has implemented its foreign assistance called Official Development Assistance (ODA) to developing countries including Indonesia. Japan has assisted the developing countries through its export-credit program. This paper will discuss the effectiveness of ODA and its implementation. In the first part of this paper, it will elaborate the history and structure of Japan’s ODA. In the next part, it will also explain the successful achievement of this program. Besides, it will also examine whether or not the implementation of this assistance has effectively reached its target and goals. The understanding of essential component of development strategy to increase the ODA’s effectiveness is related with the usage of that assistance in the recipient country. This perception is in line with Kevin Morrison (2000) saying the four elements of foreign assistance’s effectiveness particularly the technical assistance of Japan.

Os Programas de Financiamento às Exportações do BNDES e as Regras Internacionais sobre Subsídios

Analisa-se a compatibilidade do programa brasileiro de crédito para exportação (BNDESEXIM) com as regras da OMC. Analisa-se a presença de vinculação do financiamento às exigências de exportação dos bens, bem como de uso de conteúdo nacional, o que sugeriria que os programas podem ser analisados sob a categoria de subsídio proibido. Da composição da taxa de juros oferecida e a ausência de elementos de risco nas taxas finais na modalidade direta de certas linhas, identifica-se a aproximação de uma incompatibilidade “as such” com as regras da OMC.

China, Africa and the Global Aid Architecture

This paper analyzes China’s growing foreign aid and export credit program as an element of the changing international aid architecture. The international aid architecture is defined as the institutions, norms, and practices that govern the transfer of concessional resources for development. It comprises four major areas: (1) Institutions and actors; (2) Volumes and composition; (4) Instruments and modalities; and (4) Rules and standards. The section on rules and standards includes five areas: transparency; tied aid and export credits; environmental and social protections; corruption and governance; and the management of debt. China’s approach to aid and export credits is outlined, with a focus on four distinct instruments: concessional loans; preferential export buyer’s credits; mixed credits; and natural resource-backed lines of credit. It is compared with the norms and practices of the current aid architecture. Three areas were selected for greater investigation: tied aid and export credits; debt management; and conditionality relating to environmental, social, and governance standards. A final section notes areas where the Chinese have cooperated with other donors, and areas where African countries might seek to strengthen their capacity to engage fruitfully with this important rising partner.

Impacts of the Doha Round Framework Agreements on Dairy Policies

Dairy is highly regulated in many countries for several reasons. Perishability, seasonal imbalances, and inelastic supply and demand for milk can cause inherent market instability. Milk buyers typically have had more market power than dairy farmers. Comparative production advantages in some countries have led to regulations and policies to protect local dairy farmers by maintaining domestic prices higher than world prices. A worldwide consensus on reduction of border measures for protecting dairy products is unlikely, and dairy will probably be an exception in ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. Under the Doha Round framework agreements, countries may name some products such as dairy as “sensitive,” thereby excluding them from further reforms. However, new Doha Round framework agreements depart from the current WTO rule and call for product-specific spending caps. Such caps will greatly affect the dairy sector because dairy accounts for much of the aggregate measure of support (AMS) in several countries, including the United States and Canada. Also, the amounts of dairy AMS in several countries may be recalculated relative to an international reference price. In addition, all export subsidies are targeted for elimination in the Doha Round, including export credit programs and state trading enterprises, which will limit options for disposing of surplus dairy products in foreign markets. Currently, with higher domestic prices, measures for cutting or disposing of surpluses have been used in many countries. Supply control, which is not regulated by WTO rules, remains as an option. Although explicit export subsidies are restricted by WTO rules, many countries use esoteric measures to promote dairy exports. If countries agree to eliminate “consumer financed” export subsidies using a theoretical definition and measurements proposed herein as Export Subsidy Equivalents (ESE), dairy exports in many countries may be affected. Although domestic supports and export subsidies will be reduced in the Doha Round, possible exclusion of “sensitive” products from tariff reduction will help some countries’ dairy sectors survive after those final agreements. A key concern for those countries will be the simultaneous restriction of surplus-disposing measures. With fewer marketing options for surpluses, countries that continue border protection and high internal prices will likely be forced to use domestic supply control programs in the future.

Merlinda D. Ingco and John D. Nash (eds.). 2004. Agriculture and the WTO: Creating a Trading System for Development. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 408 pp., $45.00.

Merlinda D. Ingco and John D. Nash (eds.). 2004. Agriculture and the WTO: Creating a Trading System for Development. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 408 pp., $45.00. The World Bank has a view on how agricultural trade liberalization impacts economic development, and this book describes the basis of that perspective. It contains a description of numerous trade policies, some of which hinder and others which aid development. The trade policies are described, often modeled mathematically and graphically, and supported with data. The book has fifteen chapters and two appendices. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of trade policy. This book is about the importance of gaining greater trade liberalization for developing countries and about some of the economic problems confronting those countries now and that will confront them in the future. The first two chapters discuss the importance of agricultural trade policies to developing economies. The authors place the current trade debate in the context of the Doha Round and the achievements of past GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) rounds, particularly the Uruguay Round. Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 describe different methods countries use to distort production, trade, and price. These chapters do a careful analysis of how developed country policies distort trade to the detriment of international competitors, particularly developing countries. In Chapter 3 much space is allocated to the discussion of export subsidies, while less space is given to food aid and export credit programs. Market access is the theme of Chapter 4, with the appropriate focus placed on import tariffs. Chapter 5 focuses on quota administration. The different types of quota administrations are modeled and discussed in detail. A cross-country comparison of quota levels and their impact on specific sectors in different countries is provided. Finally, Chapter 6 deals with the domestic levels of support for agriculture. In all four of these chapters there is a nice mix of theory and data. The remaining chapters are less integrated. Chapter 7 deals with how agricultural policy reform affects the income distribution in a country. It examines the change in the distribution of income when there is an equal reduction in support rates in all countries; it also examines it in a case study of trade liberalization in Mexico versus trade liberalization in rich countries. The analysis depends completely upon the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) policy evaluation model. Chapters 8 and 9 deal with two issues on which much has been written, multifunctionality and food security. The discussion on multifunctionality attempts to broaden the issue to include lessdeveloped regions and non-agricultural outputs from rural landscapes. The reference to ecological goods and services is a recognition that rural people, particularly farmers, produce more than food and biophysical products. The rather short chapter on food security fleshes out how food security is considered in the rules of the WTO (World Trade Organization). In many developing countries, poverty is a major social, political, and economic issue. The authors of this chapter come to the conclusion that multilateral trade liberalization produces benefits to net-food-importing countries. The terms-of-trade impacts resulting from agricultural trade liberalization depend upon the complete array of government policies and not just those in the agriculture sector. …