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Budget & Economic Policy | Economic Policy |

Export Promotion & Financing

Exporting goods and services is of vital significance for each economy in our increasingly inter-linked and globalised world. In Austria, the total value of goods exports amounted to approximately € 93.7 billion in 2009. Currently, roughly 3% of all Austrian exports are covered by the Austrian export promotion scheme.

However, “export promotion” should not be misunderstood as the granting of subsidies, financial aid or direct payments to exporters. Instead, this system consists of state-supported export guarantees. These guarantees insure against certain risks that arise when dealing with international contract partners. They can, however, only be granted where private export credit insurers do not appropriately cover such risks.

In today's competitive environment export companies that wish to succeed need adequate risk coverage and financing options – in addition to providing goods and services. Projects might be large, situated in countries with higher risk exposure, and they might require multisourcing. Private export credit insurance and financing instruments often do not meet such needs. For this reason EU and OECD countries, but also emerging markets such as India, Brazil or South Africa, run export credit schemes. The Austrian export promotion system allows Austrian exporters to compete on the international market under fair conditions.

The Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG (OeKB) has been authorised to act as the handling agent for the Austrian export guarantee system on behalf of the Austrian Minister of Finance. In order to facilitate the financing of exports covered by the guarantees, the Minister of Finance may assume liability for the capital the OeKB raises in the national and international financial markets. These funds are then made available to the export companies through the OeKB export financing scheme.

The Austrian export promotion system is in compliance with the relevant international rules (OECD, WTO and EU rules and regulations). It is designed to be self-supporting, exporters have to pay risk adequate guarantee fees. The so called Paris Club, a multilateral forum of creditor states, deals with payment difficulties in the field of state-guaranteed export credits.

You can also visit the following websites for further information about the Austrian export promotion system: