MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK Export Finance support for Uruguay increased to £4 billion

Sam Hoexter from UK Export Finance will give a presentation on export credits available for Uruguayan and British companies for up to £4 billion.

The United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF) support available for trade with Uruguay has been increased to up to £4 billion, meaning an additional £2.25 billion in support for UK companies exporting to Uruguay and for Uruguayan buyers of UK goods and services.

 This finance can be used to support projects across numerous sectors including infrastructure, and Sam Hoexter, Regional Head for Latin America at UKEF, will give more details about the program, now available in Uruguayan Pesos, allowing Uruguayan buyers to access finance in their own currency and making sourcing from the UK even more competitive. The conference will be held on Wednesday, April 11 at the Ambassador’s Residence.

UKEF is the UK’s export credit agency. Its role is to provide support to UK companies who wish to export goods and/or services, and overseas buyers sourcing from the UK.

UKEF can support a wide variety of structures, including Public-Private Partnerships and proposals for financing limited-resource projects. Over the years UKEF has provided finance to numerous foreign buyers in the construction of bridges, airports, refineries, buses, hospitals and more.

Some interesting facts about the export credits: UKEF has up to £4 billion available for Uruguay; Finance is available to Uruguayan buyers to pay for goods and services from the UK. Both public and private sector buyers and project sponsors are included (companies of all sizes and sectors provided they meet UKEF’s credit requirements); At least 20% of the international contract work must be sourced from the UK and so up to 80% of the value of the work can originate in a country other than the UK; When finance is provided to Uruguayan borrowers: UKEF offers 100% guarantees to banks lending such finance and in certain circumstances it can lend finance directly itself; Long repayment terms are available, typically between 2-10 years and up to 18 years depending on the sector; UKEF guarantees can be provided for bank loans in Uruguayan Pesos (UKEF cannot lend in Uruguayan Pesos but in GBP, EUR, USD and Japanese YEN).

More information available in Spanish at UK Export Finance Brochure (PDF, 2.1MB, 5 pages), and if interested in attending the conference, please contact uktrade.uruguay@fco.gov.uk.