News | News Releases | 1996

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The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Exim) signed a "Framework Guarantee Agreement" today that will facilitate the use of Exim programs by Jordanian buyers of U.S. goods and services. Over the next year, Jordan and Exim foresee requests for a total of up to $200 million in Exim insurance and loan guarantees for individual transactions under this Agreement. Most transactions are expected to be for short-term trade financing under the Exim insurance program.

Accordingly, Ex-Im Bank will not accept Letter of Interest applications and will accept only Final Commitment applications directly from SONATRACH, or from a financial institution designated as the guaranteed lender with a mandate letter from SONATRACH, supported by the evidence of availability of the sovereign guarantee of the Algerian Ministry of Finance for the specific transaction.

The Agreement was signed by Joan Spero, Under Secretary for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, on behalf of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and Marwan Awad, Minister of Finance, on behalf of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

"The Agreement will make it much easier for Jordanians and Americans to do business with each other, " said Under Secretary Spero. "This is an important step in developing closer economic relations between our two countries," she said.

Under the Agreement, the procedures under which Exim issues insurance and loan guarantees for Jordanian purchases of U.S. goods will be greatly simplified, saving the Jordanian importer time and money. With Exim support, Jordanian buyers should then be able to arrange financing for their purchases on longer terms and at more competitive interest rates.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States is an independent agency of the United States government, chartered by the U.S. Congress. Since it was founded in 1934, Exim has helped finance more than $290 billion in U.S. exports worldwide.