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The Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) has made support available for UK exporters selling into Central America, by guaranteeing a new facility designed to open up additional trade into the region.


The department is providing the London branch of Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking (SGCIB) with support for a line of credit that SGCIB set up in June 2004 with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei). Loan values of varying sizes – with a cumulative ceiling of US$20mn – are available under the credit line, for which Cabei will act as the borrower for all business transacted.


A wide range of buyers within Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua who purchase UK goods and services can use the line – and Cabei hopes that this agreement will open the door for trade between the UK and its five founder member countries.


“Central America is becoming a more and more interesting place for business for many international companies mainly because of its location next to the American market but also for its economic growth and political and social stability,” says Carlos Watson, the head of Cabei’s international finance department. “These factors have created an appropriate environment for investments in many sectors in the region – and this credit line is an effort from both ECGD and Cabei to create more business between the UK and Central America.”