An innovative new export finance scheme has helped support more than 100,000 jobs throughout the pandemic, new figures have revealed.
The research, published by UK Export Finance (UKEF), the Government’s export credit agency, shows that the General Export Facility (GEF) has helped hundreds of businesses access the funds they need to “go global”.
According to the study, UKEF provided £12.3 billion in support for UK exports in the 2020-21 financial year – almost three times that provided in the previous 12 months.
The agency also helped some 549 companies over the same period – more than double the number from two years ago – and supported “up to 107,000” trade-dependent jobs.
But Marcus Dolman, Co-Chairman of the British Exporters’ Association (BExA), attributed the “record” figures to the success of the new GEF scheme.
Targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the GEF supports exporters by providing an 80 per cent guarantee to banks to incentive lending.
Exporters can access facilities – such as trade loans, bonding, and letter of credit lines – of up to £25 million with maximum repayment terms of up to five years.
UKEF says the scheme has helped “thousands of businesses” to fulfil multiple export contracts, pay for labour costs, build their inventory, and ease cash flow constraints.
The Export Development Guarantee (EDG) scheme, meanwhile, is aimed at larger contracts of between £100 million and £500 million.
Mr Dolman said: “UKEF has stepped up and provided much needed support to sustain exporters through the pandemic.
“The new EDG and GEF products are already proving their value to UK exporters and to supporting UK jobs. It is also heartening to see increases in UKEF’s traditional support. The rise in the number of exporters supported is positive.”
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