Ex-Im Bank Death Would Devastate Thousands Of Small Businesses (From Forbes)

If Congress does not vote to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank by June 30, America’s sole export credit agency will cease operating — at a time when other countries such as China and South Korea are stepping up their own assistance to exporters (China’s export aid is up over 800% since 2005).  One of the issues that tends to get lost in this debate is how many small businesses benefit from Ex-Im financing.  They don’t get subsidies — the money has to be paid back with interest — but they get credit that private-sector lenders often are unwilling to provide.  In 2014, as in 2013, about 90% of all Ex-Im transactions were in support of small business.  A total of 3,347 small businesses used Ex-Im credit facilities last year to export $10.7 billion in U.S.-made goods and services.  That’s 39% of all the exports by dollar value that Ex-Im supported.  And it doesn’t even count the thousands of small businesses that benefit whenever Ex-Im helps Boeing or Caterpillar or General Electric to sell U.S.-made capital goods abroad.  Ex-Im’s services don’t cost taxpayers a cent because the agency covers all its costs with fees charged to users, but they sustain tens of thousands of jobs in the export sector — many at small businesses.  I have written a commentary for Forbes here.