Chapter 5

Trade Finance

The export credit agencies (ECAs) and other organizations described in this chapter provide support to trading businesses at every level of the transaction cycle, including early stages of the negotiating process. The numerous government sources of support available for financing, insuring, and providing technical assistance for the export of goods and services are the focus of this chapter. Specifically, ECAs, the most important government source of trade finance, provide three basic functions: First, they help exporters neutralize officially supported foreign credit competition; second, they assume risks beyond those that can be assumed by private lenders (e.g., discounting foreign receivables); and third, they provide ...

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