As the market becomes more and more challenging, ECA support will be more necessary than ever. We gather ECAs and product users active across Africa to consider what the product is needed for in these trying times:

• What initiatives is ECIC working on to support businesses impacted by Covid-19?
• What have international ECAs offered for their local exporters seeking to do business in Africa?
• Businesses will continue to need support even when the bulk of the crisis recedes. Will ECA led initiatives be long-term, and how do they plan to serve their clients further down the line?
• Will the OECD need to become more flexible in its guidelines surrounding local content? To what extent are these rules inhibiting international investment into African projects in need of ECA cover?

In June we gathered to discuss the world of export finance, most of us working from home due to Covid-19, under the assumption that we would meet physically this October. With the World Health Organization citing up to two years until the pandemic subsides, we need to evaluate our initial responses and prepare ourselves for the years to come:

• How can we better respond to the challenges facing new business origination?
• Clarity, communication, speed of execution is key – what can we learn from digital transactions that have closed?
• Evaluating the success of payment deferrals, waivers, concessions, debt restructuring and policies that have worked to ease working capital challenges for corporates
• How have banks and ECAs responded to the needs of sectors most impacted by Covid-19? And with the pandemic ensuing how long can sectors such as cruise and aviation hold out?
• With uncertainty of the level of 100% financing available how can we club together to ensure we bring more projects over the line? How can we stop bottlenecks and delays?
• Co-financing – will we see an increased convergence between ECAs and development banks to ensure more projects are financed? How will this effect eligibility criteria? What’s the role of commercial banks?
• Will we see increased liquidity and flexibility, standardisation and co-operation between ECAs to create simplicity and uniform products?
• Are we seeing a decrease in CPRI market capacity impacting banks’ ability to price and provide commercial loans? How is bond market volatility creating further complications?
• Will government need to increase funding to support ECAs, and what else can they do to help?
• How and when will we convene to modernise the OECD Consensus and can Covid-19 be an accelerator for change? What are the most pressing changes needing championing?