Ruslan Gashev, Head of the Export Credit Agency (ECA), announced at the Summit of Exporters held by Forbes Ukraine in Kyiv that in 2022 it supported 35 exporters for UAH 3.18 billion and is ready to increase export support up to UAH 18 billion this year.
He pointed out that the agency is capable of such volume of activities without increasing the nominal capital.
Gashev also announced that in the nearest future the number of Ukrainian banks-partners to ECA under the program of portfolio credit insurance will increase from six to seven.
According to the head of the agency, the ECA may also become a tool of activity in Ukraine for the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) from the World Bank Group and the U.S. Corporation for International Development Finance (DFC), which do not have their own representative offices in Ukraine.
“Even in those projects where MIGA and DFC risk insurance will be involved, we can be their ‘hands’ because they do not have their own offices in Ukraine,” Gashev explained.
He clarified that this issue has already been discussed with the DFC, and the ECA has sent its proposal, while the Ministry of Economy is still working with MIGA without the agency’s participation.
The head of ECA also supported the initiative contained in the draft law “On Amendments to the Law on Financial Mechanisms to Encourage Export Activities in relation to Investment Insurance against Military Risks in Ukraine” (#9015) to expand the ECA’s mandate to insure investments in Ukraine.
“When we approach our foreign partners, especially such structures as MIGA and DFC, to insure Ukrainian and foreign investments in Ukraine, we also have to think about how to use the tools we have in the country,” Gashev said.
He stressed that we are talking about insurance not only of foreign investments, but also domestic ones. According to him, the document has not been introduced at the meeting of the Profile Committee, but it is being worked on.
Since the beginning of the year (as of March 13) ECA has supported export from Ukraine in the amount of 242.35 million UAH (11 agreements). Banks financed UAH 43.5 million. Exports were made to France, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Switzerland, and the USA. The leaders among the branches according to the results of two months of 2023 are furniture industry, the second place is taken by toys and further by rubber, rubber and rubber goods.
