The Diplomat
The Spanish Exporters and Investors Club has called for an update of the Spanish export credit insurance system on behalf of the State “to make it more flexible and dynamic”.
In a technical note approved by its Committee for Reflection on Internationalisation, the Exporters’ Club stated last Wednesday that there are “a series of legal and administrative obstacles” that have prevented the Spanish Export Credit Insurance Company (CESCE), created in 1970 to cover the risks of non-payment derived from internationalisation operations of Spanish companies, “from fully adapting to the changes that are being promoted by other similar agencies in countries competing with Spain”.
In the organisation’s opinion, the Spanish system of export credit insurance on behalf of the State has been “left behind in a context in which other countries competing with Spain have been applying, since the financial crisis of 2008, more aggressive policies in the conditions of financing export operations with public support”.
Likewise, according to the Exporters’ Club, “CESCE itself has been losing autonomy in insuring risks on behalf of the State, firstly due to the Foreign Debt Law of 2006 and mainly due to the legislative modifications made to the company in 2014”. “Since 2015, the public administration has been the direct decision-maker on the risks to be insured on behalf of the State, as well as in relation to the countries of destination and the amounts of the operations”, which is why the predominance of “political criteria” over technical approaches “results in a decrease in the efficiency and agility of the instrument”.
Another of the weaknesses of the Spanish export credit insurance system on behalf of the State is “the insufficient human resources within CESCE”, due to the restrictions imposed by the public sector on the recruitment of personnel, and “the absence of subsidiaries and representative offices abroad to help Spanish exporting companies on the ground”.
For all these reasons, the Exporters’ Club has put forward a series of proposals to “make the Spanish system more flexible and equalise the competitive advantages that companies in other countries find in their respective systems of official financial support for exports”, including the recovery of CESCE’s autonomy in decision-making, the repeal of the 2006 Foreign Debt Law, the relaxation of the criteria for financing foreign material and local expenditure, “as other countries competing with Spain do”, and the authorisation and provision of resources to CESCE to open delegations abroad and hire specialised personnel.
The organisation also proposes that “CESCE or the Administration should carry out and publish analyses on the impact on job creation or maintenance of Spanish exports with official financial support”.
