UKEF Development and Importance for Official Export Promotion in the United Kingdom
UKEF Development and Importance for Official Export Promotion in the United Kingdom

Summary/Abstract: International trade, and export promoting policy in particular, has always been an economic priority for the UK. Official export promoting policy based on a system of financial and insurance mechanisms secures competitiveness of domestic exporters. British export promotion scheme is one among the oldest as it was put into operation in the early 20th century. In the United Kingdom, the official export promotion scheme is based on a wide range of financial and insurance products offered by the UK Export Finance (UKEF). The aim of this paper is to assess the activities of the UKEF as an institutional link, which complements the private market by providing assistance to exporters and investors, principally in the form of insurance and guarantees. To evaluate UKEF activities we used statistical data from UKEF annual reports. Assessment focused on the engagement in promoting export, available financial and insurance instruments as well as sectoral and geographical structure of export covered by the support scheme. Our analysis demonstrates that despite significant drop in exports under official support schemes, there are solid premises in favour of continuing operations of one of the oldest export credit agencies in the world.

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