The authorizations of the Bank from its inception in February 1934 through December 1960 totaled $11.3 billion. Disbursements were $7.5 billion, of which $4.2 billion have been repaid. The Bank has continued to consult with the Council on major credits and credits involving important considerations of U.S. foreign financial policy. Credits authorized at the request of overseas purchasers A total of $452.4 million was authorized under this major category of the Bank's loan operations during July-December 1960. Five nonproject loans were authorized as follows: $3.5 million to Creditanstalt-Bankverein in Austria for the purchase of raw cotton of U.S. growth and cotton waste; $9.3 million to assist Brazil in meeting principal payments due on all previous Eximbank project credits in which there had been no participation by commercial banks or others; and three credits, respectively, of $50 million to Venezuela, $50 million to India, and $15 million to Iran, to assist these countries in purchasing capital equipment and services in the United States. Project credits authorized by the Bank in the period under review totaled $324.6 million. These credits ranged in amount from $100,000 to finance the purchase of U.S. beef and dairy cattle for individual cattle purchasers in Ecuador, to $42 million to assist in financing the purchase of materials, equipment, supplies, and services for the expansion of electric power facilities in Chile. Medium-term credits and guarantees The Bank continued to assist in financing exports by authorizing medium-term credits and guarantees at the request of U.S. exporters or financial institutions. Transactions financed under this program cover maturities of over 6 months but usually not more than 5 years and relate to the exportation of a wide variety of machinery, equipment, and services. A total of 213 medium-term credits and guarantees for $71.2 million was authorized at the request of U.S. firms during the period July 1 to December 31, 1960. The smallest new credit was for $2,100 to assist in financing the sale of a rolling machine for manufacturing tanks and welded pipe to a small farmer's cooperative in Niante, Mexico. The largest was for $12,840,000 to assist in financing the sale of two DC-8 jet commercial aircraft and related spare parts to Panair do Brazil, S.A. Medium-term credits and guarantees made during the period under review include those made under the new procedure instituted in April 1960 whereby the exporter may apply through his commercial bank provided the latter will finance at least 10 percent of the invoice value of the sale, thereby avoiding the need for the exporter to present credit information to the Bank in Washington. The Bank continued to authorize transactions through direct negotiation with the exporter in cases in which commercial banks may not be interested. 690-494-64- -60 Short-term guarantees As of December 31, 1960, 148 commercial banks and 2 export credit insurance companies had agreed to act as agents for the ExportImport Bank in issuing political risk guarantees directly to exporters on behalf of the Export-Import Bank. Between July 1 and December 31, short-term political risk guarantee agreements were issued to U.S. exporters covering an anticipated $100 million of exports during the ensuing 12 months. Actual guaranteed shipments through December 31, 1960, numbered 14,000 with a cumulative invoice value of $25.6 million. Nearly every type of commodity sold on short term was covered. Shipments went to 100 countries on all six continents, with a preponderance of the transactions involving Latin America. Also during the 6 months under review, 110 war risk and expropriation insurance policies were issued on consigned exports of cotton and tobacco valued at $4 million. Private participation During the period under review, private investors participated in the Bank's activities to the extent of $26.5 million through (1) the purchase by commercial banks of early maturities in Export-Import Bank credits ($3.1 million), (2) the commercial bank portions of their own credits in which the Export-Import Bank has participated ($4.8 million), (3) loans extended concurrently with loans by the Export-Import Bank to the same borrower ($5.7 million), (4) credits extended abroad by U.S. manufacturers and exporters concurrently with Export-Import Bank credits for the same transactions, but without the Bank's guarantee ($10.5 million), and (5) equity capital supplied by private investors who became stockholders in corporations abroad to which the Bank was concurrently extending credit ($2.4 million). FISCAL RESULTS During the 6 months ended December 31, 1960, the Bank authorized new dollar loan and medium-term guarantee commitments of $523.7 million. Disbursements were $214.3 million, and the Bank received $199.8 million in repayment of principal. The gross income for this period was $67.7 million. Interest paid to the Treasury on borrowed money was $20.9 million, and operating expenses were $1.2 million. Thus, the net income was $45.6 million. The Bank's reserves and undistributed earnings amounted to $659 million on December 31, 1960. STATUS OF BANK RESOURCES As of December 31, 1960, the total lending authority of the ExportImport Bank was $7 billion outstanding at any one time. Loans outstanding totaled $3,246.2 million, unutilized commitments were $1,817.5 million, and $156.8 million had been allocated to cover shortterm political risk and expropriations insurance on consigned exports of cotton and tobacco. Hence, the uncommitted lending authority of the Bank was $1,779.5 million on December 30, 1960. As indicated in table 11, net credits authorized by the Bank in the postwar period, July 1, 1945, to December 31, 1960, amounted to $8.5 billion. Of total credits of $5.6 billion authorized during July 1, 1950, to December 31, 1960, $2.6 billion, or about half, were approved to assist in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to Latin America. TABLE 11.-Net credits authorized by the Export-Import Bank, July 1, 1945, to Dec. 31, 1960, by area 1 Credits authorized less cancellations, expirations and participations. Source: Export-Import Bank. FOREIGN CURRENCY LOANS UNDER SECTION 104 (e) OF PUBLIC LAW 480 As the result of sales agreements concluded by the United States with 14 countries during the period under review, the equivalent of $28.3 million was made available for foreign currency lending under the Cooley Amendment to Public Law 480.5 This increased the cumulative total of funds available for such loans to the equivalent of $356 million on December 31, 1960. In the current period, the Bank authorized 26 loans in the currencies of 10 countries in the equivalent of approximately $17.1 million. Eleven of these loans were to firms having no U.S. affiliation and were for purposes which would assist in increasing the consumption of and markets for U.S. agricultural products. Since the amendment of Public Law 480 in August 1957, the Bank had authorized a total of 144 such loans in the currencies of 18 countries in the equivalent of $84 million. 5 See American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, pp. 1504–1505 and footnote 18 thereto, which describes the nature of the Cooley amendment. |