American money for infrastructure

Export-Import Bank of the United States, the US institution that specialises in funding import-export operations, is planning to back municipal infrastructure projects. “Many investment banks fund projects in poor countries. However, municipalities in Central and Eastern Europe have trouble raising funds for infrastructure projects. This is where institutions specialised in funding exports play an important part,” said the vice-president of Ex-Im Bank, Jeffrey Miller, at the Conference for Municipality Funding organised by the bank in Bucharest. Ex-Im Bank has funded nearly $2bn in exports in the Central and Eastern European region over the last six years. “We are highly-experienced in funding municipal projects and we are, as far as I can tell, the only bank in the world that does not demand sovereign guarantees for these loans,” Miller added. ZF