Can Ex-Im Bank take any credit? By Peter A. Buxbaum, AJOT Could the United States double its exports by 2015? That’s what President Barrack Obama called for in 2010 as part his jobs and economic recovery program. As it turns out, U.S. exports are pretty much on track to do just that. According to figures released by the Export-Import Bank of the United States towards the end of last year, export levels were 32.64 percent above what they were in 2009. Annual exports totaled $2.089 trillion in 2011 and grew at an annualized rate of 15.9 percent, greater than the 15 percent required to double exports by 2015. Of course, exports didn’t grow just because the president said they should. Several conditions have converged in the last few years that provided a boost to exports. A weaker dollar, which makes U.S. goods and services cheaper overseas, is perhaps chief among them. Rising manufacturing costs in China has made that country less attractive, and the U.S., more attractive, as a manufacturing venue. But government action may also have had a hand in stimulating exports. The Obama administration’s 2010 National Export Initiative included several elements: streamlining processes and regulations, the creation of an export promotion cabinet and an industry advisory council, and increased trade financing through the Ex-Im Bank, in the form of an additional $2 billion per year to increase support for small and medium-sized businesses. Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that fill gaps in private export financing. Ex-Im Bank financing boosts exports primarily by providing guarantees to private lenders on their loans to overseas buyers of U.S. goods and services. The bank also provides a variety of other financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit insurance, and direct financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services. Ex-Im Bank approved $32.7 billion in total authorizations in 2011 and supported a total of $41.3 billion in exports at more than 3,600 U.S. companies. These, in turn, supported 290,000 export-related American jobs. Under the president’s initiative, Ex-Im Bank is focusing on supporting a number of industries, including agribusiness, aircraft and avionics, construction, medical technologies, mining, oil and gas, and power generation. Infrastructure-related financing reached $23.0 billion in 2011, a 130 percent increase over 2008. In January, Ex-Im Bank approved a $638 million direct loan to finance the sale by Siemens Energy, Inc. of gas and steam turbines to be installed in Saudi Arabia. The borrower is Hajr for Electricity Production Company in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The project will sell capacity and energy under a 20-year power purchase agreement with Saudi Electricity Company. The equipment is to be manufactured at Siemens’ Charlotte, N.C., facility, which was specifically constructed to produce U.S.-made goods for export to Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. The project involves the export of ten Siemens Model F5 gas turbines, 18 gas turbine and steam turbine generators, ancillary equipment, and services from the U.S. The equipment involved in this sale are part of a $2 billion project involving the construction and operation of a gas-fired power plan with a capacity of 4,000 megawatts located in Qurayyah, on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia. Ex-Im Bank financing helped Siemens win the sale against competition from Japan, Germany, and Korea, according to Fred Hochberg, chairman of Ex-Im Bank. “Siemens has chosen to build a plant in the U.S. specifically to produce equipment for export,” he said. “I’m proud that Ex-Im’s financing helped win this order.” The Siemens deal was announced the same day President Obama hosted a White House forum to encourage more companies to insource American jobs. “The rest of the world is eager to do business with the United States,” said Randy Zwirn, president of Siemens Energy, Inc. “Our newly expanded Charlotte facility will produce the world’s most technologically a