The Export-Import Bank of the United States (US Exim) has bolstered its support for the domestic aviation manufacturing and export sector, renewing a supply chain finance (SCF) guarantee backing engine sales to Boeing.

Signed as part of its SCF guarantee programme, US Exim is supporting the sale of aircraft engines from Ohio-based CFM International to Boeing by covering 90% of a US$180mn purchase facility.

The deal will allow Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, the guaranteed lender, to continue purchasing accounts receivable due from Boeing for purchases of a particular type of engine from CFM, used in Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

According to US Exim, the guaranteed portion of the financing will be repaid over nine months.

The agreement sees US Exim continue its support for a transaction initially signed in July last year involving the same parties, though that deal was worth US$510mn in total.

According to a statement from US Exim, the deal will prop up US jobs as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to bite the commercial lending market in hard-hit sectors such as aviation.

“One of Exim’s primary roles is to fill gaps in private sector financing in support of US exports. Throughout the pandemic, Exim has fulfilled that mission by helping to ensure that American manufacturing jobs remain secure while the world navigates the historic disruptions to various markets and sectors,” says US Exim’s acting president and chair, James Burrows.

The export credit agency (ECA) estimates that the facility’s renewal will ultimately support US$353mn in export sales and 600 jobs across Indiana, North Carolina and Ohio.

In April, US Exim extended a host of temporary Covid-19 relief measures, including amendments made to its SCF guarantee programme.

Since being launched in 2010, the programme was seldom used for many years, but the ECA said in its 2020 annual report that the solution has been of particular use to American exporters since the onset of the pandemic.

As the aviation sector continues to feel the impact of weakened demand caused by the ongoing Covid-19 crisis with travel between countries still much restricted, US Exim has offered relief to Boeing through other forms of support.

In recent months, US Exim signed off on a pair of guarantees worth a combined total of more than US$830mn backing the export of Boeing aircraft to Turkish Airlines in Istanbul.