Italy’s ECA, Sace, has approved guarantees for €2.1bn worth of projects, including €1bn in frontier markets.

The ECA’s definition of frontier markets includes the Dominican Republic, Angola, Madagascar, Mozambique and Ecuador – “emerging countries that are not yet fully accredited but can offer significant growth opportunities for [Italian] companies”.

Italian exports to Angola, Madagascar and Mozambique in particular registered double-digit growth in 2014.

The remaining €1.1bn is for projects in Oman and Argentina, as well as Brazil and Turkey.

Sace is unable to release the names of the project lenders, but specifies that €1.6bn of the total sum will be spent in the energy and oil and gas sectors.

Other important sectors for Italian consumer products include textiles, agro-food, for which exports grew faster than the global average in 2014, as well as petrochemicals, infrastructure, construction and metallurgy – industries which promote development in emerging countries.