UK export credit agency UK Export Finance (UKEF) has unveiled a £13 billion expansion of its Direct Lending Facility, reinforcing the agency’s role in delivering the government’s new Industrial Strategy and supporting British exports across priority sectors.

In an interview with Trade Treasury Payments (TTP), Yuichiro Akita, President of the Berne Union, discussed how ECAs must adapt strategically to this new environment. Key priorities include supporting climate and clean-tech projects even in high-risk markets, shoring up supply chain resilience amid geopolitical fragmentation, deepening collaboration with development finance institutions (DFIs) through blended finance, innovating in underwriting and risk management post-pandemic, and recalibrating risk appetite to enable critical projects. 

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Trade has become well-established and recognised among practitioners and policymakers as an effective way to support and advance international development and poverty reduction. Multilateral institutions, including multilateral development banks (MDBs), have embraced this perspective, and most leading MDBs today put significant priority on the nexus between trade and development.