By Godson Umejiego, Correspondent USA

In July 2020, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) approved 162 authorizations totaling US$167.4 million in support of an estimated 600 American jobs at small businesses in 37 states and one territory that export “Made in the USA” products around the world, according to the agency’s preliminary estimates.

“As our nation’s economy safely reopens with a renewed focus on creating American jobs, EXIM remains ready to help small businesses succeed in exporting their wonderful ‘Made in the USA’ goods and services to the global marketplace,” said EXIM President and Chairman Kimberly A. Reed. “These authorizations signal EXIM’s robust commitment to assisting our small businesses grow and thrive through exporting. We continue to encourage small business exporters to reach out directly to EXIM.”

The small business authorizations are posted online. In addition, of that US$167.4 million in small business authorizations, US$18.4 million went to support minority and women-owned business. To date, since May 2019, when a quorum of the Board of Directors was restored, EXIM has authorized 2,369 small business transactions totaling more than US$2.3 billion and supporting thousands of US jobs.

Nearly 90 per cent of EXIM’s authorizations directly support small businesses, and as part of EXIM’s recent reauthorization, Congress directed EXIM to build on the agency’s robust support of small business even further.

In addition to EXIM’s financial tools and resources, since the onset of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the agency has announced a series of relief measures for US exporters and financial institutions, including US small businesses.