Ex-Im Bank to supply 47 tln won to exporters this year

SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's state-owned trade bank said Wednesday it
plans to provide a combined 47 trillion won (US$34.9 billion) to local exporters
this year in a bid to help them cope with tight export financing conditions.

South Korean exporters are struggling to cope with a credit crunch and the
slowing economy as overseas shipments, the mainstay of the nation's economic
growth, show signs of a sharp slowdown.
"The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Ex-Im Bank) plans to expand the size of
financial support by 17.5 percent this year from a year earlier in a bid to help
local exporters," the bank said in a statement.
The South Korean economy grew 0.5 percent in the third quarter from three months
earlier, the weakest growth in four years as exports faltered and domestic demand
remained sluggish. The country's central bank predicts the economy will expand
just 2 percent this year, down from an estimated 3.7 percent advance in 2008.
Most analysts predict economic growth will fall to the 1 percent range.
Exports, which account for about 60 percent of the economy, tumbled 17.4 percent
on-year in December after falling 19 percent the previous month as demand slumped
amid a global recession. The government expects the country's exports to grow a
mere one percent this year, the slowest pace in eight years.
The Eximbank said it will expand export financing for local plant and vessel
exporters and small and mid-sized trade companies and support overseas resource
development.
The state-run bank also said it aims to raise $7.2 billion this year from
overseas by selling longer-dated bonds and tapping non-dollar markets.
On Tuesday, the lender said it has sold $2 billion worth of bonds to foreign
investors, marking the biggest overseas debt offering since the government issued
$4 billion worth of currency stabilization bonds in 1998.
Local banks have had difficulty raising funds overseas as debt sales have frozen
in the wake of U.S. investment giant Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s collapse.
The government plans to invest in the bank by 950 billion won in an effort to
bolster the bank's capital adequacy ratio and expand its lending capacity.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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