Egregious Ex-Im Bank Deal of the Day
Washington,
July 21, 2014
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Staff
With One Hand U.S. Sanctions Russian Companies, But With the Other… 
The Export-Import Bank is financing deals with Russian companies hit
Two of the four Russian firms targeted with new sanctions announced last week by the Obama administration have received more than $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer-financed subsidies from the Export-Import Bank.
Vnesheconombank (VEB) and Gazprombank – two state-owned Russian banks – have together received more than $1 billion in Ex-Im financing since 2003. Here are the deal details: In 2003, Gazprombank received a five-year loan guarantee worth $22.6 million from Ex-Im. VEB alone has received over $1 billion in Ex-Im backed loan guarantees. This includes a $496 million loan guarantee in 2012 and a $703 million loan guarantee in 2014. The sanctions do not apply to these existing arrangements, “meaning Ex-Im is under no obligation to cancel previous deals it has with either company,” according to one report.  Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg (left) with Vladimir Dmitriev, Chairman, Vnesheconombank |