Italian export credit agency Sace is insuring €4.6bn worth of transactions in Brazil, now its fourth largest foreign market.

This confirms the upward trend observed in 2011, when Sace’s operations in Brazil reached €1.3bn, up 46% from 2010.

Saces says Brazil offers the best business climate out of all Bric countries, and its risk analysis reveals a marked reduction of the risk of non-payment from Brazilian enterprises, large and small, in the past five years. Risks of expropriation, breach of contract, restrictions on capital transfer and political violence went down as well.

The ECA’s main Brazilian operations are in the oil and gas sector (50.3%), mining (15.4%) and telecommunications (10.2%).
It is involved in deals with firms Vale, Illy Caffe, Rivoli and Petrobras, as well as the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).

Sace’s insured transactions were worth €1.6bn in the first quarter of 2012, marking a 157% increase from the same period last year. Its biggest market is currently Russia, followed by Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

In February, the ECA was awarded an advisory contract to help the newly-established Russian ECA, Exiar, with technical consultancy and training.