News

Washington, D.C. - Today the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) announced that the agency is extending provisions to assist U.S. exporters and financial institutions located in areas of Florida and the eastern United States that may be declared federal disaster areas by the Federal Emergency Management Agency due to the anticipated effects of Hurricane Michael.

“We at EXIM are deeply concerned for everyone in the path of this very dangerous hurricane,” said Ambassador Jeffrey D. Gerrish, EXIM’s acting president and chairman of the board of directors. “As with the other serious storms of the past couple of years, we want our customers and their lenders to concentrate on prioritizing their immediate needs. For this reason, we’re extending the periods of our working capital facilities and the deadlines of insurance policies and claims filings to customers in the affected areas. We hope that these measures will be especially beneficial to our small- business customers during the recovery.”

EXIM is offering assistance measures to customers in the areas affected by Hurricane Michael for an initial period of six months to allow businesses and financial institutions that participate in EXIM’s programs to return to their business concerns when appropriate and without penalty due to missed deadlines or other timeliness issues. EXIM offered similar assistance in areas of states affected by past hurricanes, including Hurricanes Florence and Lane in 2018 and Harvey, Irma, and Maria in 2017.

For a full list of current measures, please see the fact sheet. Highlights include:

Working Capital Guarantee Program

• EXIM will offer automatic extension for up to six months for working capital loan facilities maturing between October 10, 2018, and April 10, 2019. The extension applies to both the loan facility and the related loan facility fee, which may be waived in extraordinary circumstances. Claim-filing deadlines involving EXIM-backed working capital loans in the affected areas are automatically extended until April 11, 2019.
• The Bank is also offering a waiver of provisions relating to both defaults and replenishment of collateral for over advances resulting from losses of inventory or sales.

Multibuyer and Single-Buyer Insurance Programs/Medium-Term Guarantee Program

• EXIM will offer automatic extension to April 11, 2019, of all claim-filing deadlines that arise between October 10, 2018, and April 10, 2019.
• Shipment reporting and premium payment deadlines will be automatically extended to April 11, 2019, for all shipments made during September and October 2018.
• EXIM will provide flexibility in claims analysis and automatic policy renewal for policies that terminate between October 10, 2018, and April 10, 2019.

ABOUT EXIM BANK:

EXIM is an independent federal agency that provides competitive and necessary export credit to overseas purchasers of U.S. exports to promote and support American jobs. A robust and fully functioning EXIM can assist the United States in leveling the global playing field for U.S. exporters when they compete against foreign companies that receive the support of their national export credit agencies. EXIM also contributes to U.S. economic growth and the support of more than a million jobs through the support of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) around the country. Since 2000, EXIM has provided $14.6 billion to the U.S. Treasury after paying for all of its administrative and program expenses.

For more information about EXIM, please visit www.exim.gov.