Export Credit Line for Sberbank in Russia
Supporting Export of Japanese Machinery and Equipment to Russia and Its Neighboring Countries

• Region: Europe
• Machinery and Equipment
• Export Loans

1. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC; Governor: Hiroshi Okuda) signed today a general agreement with Sberbank of Russia (Sberbank), the largest commercial bank in Russia, for offering an export credit line^*1amounting to the equivalent of 360 million U.S. dollars (JBIC portion) to finance Japanese exports to Russia and its neighboring countries (including in the CIS countries and Central Asia). The credit line is cofinanced with private financial institutions^*2, which brings the overall cofinancing amount to the equivalent of 600 million U.S. dollars.
    
2. Under this agreement, an export credit line is offered for Sberbank to extend medium- and long-term loans, either in yen or in U.S. dollars, to local companies in Russia and its neighboring countries for the purchase of construction machinery for infrastructure development and other general equipment related to infrastructure and medical treatment; as well as those related to renewable energy (such as geothermal, wind, biomass, solar photovoltaic and solar thermal energy); and those related to the sector of climate change mitigation (such as thermal power plants with CCS facilities^*3, CCS projects, waste to energy projects, hybrid power^*4 plants, combined heat & power projects, district heating and/or cooling related projects).
    
3. The business opportunities in infrastructure development is expected to increase in Russia, as the action plan for promoting cooperation of trade and investment between Japan and the Russian Far East and Eastern Siberian region was agreed at the Japan-Russia summit meeting held this April. Under these circumstances, Japanese companies show growing interest^*5, viewing Russia as a promising destination for medium- and long-term business deployment, and thereby, this credit line financially supports the expansion of exports from Japan to Russia and its neighboring countries.
    
4. JBIC and Sberbank have built a close cooperative relationship through the two past export credit lines^*6 and most recently a credit line for the overseas projects^*7 for supporting the business deployment of Japanese companies in Russia, in June this year. As a public financial institution, JBIC will continue to support business expansion of Japanese companies in Russia and its neighboring countries, in collaboration with overseas local financial institutions, by drawing on its various financial facilities and schemes for structuring projects, and performing its risk-assuming function.
    

Note

1. *1 An export credit line is a form of export credit in which JBIC makes a commitment of the maximum amount of credit to be extended to foreign banks or other entities to finance the export of machinery and equipment from Japan.
2. *2 Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) will provide Buyer’s Credit Insurance for the portion cofinanced by private financial institutions.
3. *3 Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) is a technology that separates and captures carbon dioxide from emissions from fossil fuel power plants and stores it in deep waterbeds or geological formations.
4. *4 Hybrid power is a form of power generation that combines renewable energy and fossil fuels as heating sources.
5. *5 In JBIC’s FY2012 Survey Report on Overseas Business Operations by Japanese Manufacturing Companies, Russia ranked 8th in the promising countries/regions over medium-term (next 3 years or so) and 7th over long-term (next 10 years or so). For details, please see Press Release on December 7, 2012.
6. *6 See Press Releases on November 24, 2004  and June 30, 2011.
7. *7 See Press Release on June 10, 2013.