Sweden To Insure Its Companies Dealing With Ukraine
Sweden will provide special export credit guarantees worth 333 million Swedish crowns (approximately $30 million at the current exchange rate) to companies trading with Ukraine. This initiative has been included in Sweden's budget proposal for 2024 and is awaiting approval.
National Export Credits Agency (Exportkreditnämnden, EKN) reported this.
These guarantees, which will be administered by Sweden's Export Credit Agency, will cover exports from Swedish companies to Ukrainian importers. They will be issued from 2024 for the export of goods that can be classified as development assistance and will apply to transactions for a maximum of three years, but no later than the end of 2026.
For Ukrainian and Swedish companies, these guarantees mean more secure conditions for delivering essential goods to Ukraine, protection of investments, and compensation in case of force majeure events. This will reduce the individual risk that businesses have to bear in their agreements with Ukraine, making Swedish companies more willing to enter the Ukrainian market.
"An increasing number of Export Credit Agencies from different countries around the world are joining the trend of insuring the risks of their exporters working in Ukraine. The fact that Sweden will also insure risks in Ukraine from next year is a significant signal. It means that the investment insurance market in our country, despite all security challenges, is starting to work. We are very grateful to the Swedish Government, and we hope that this decision will be supported by the Riksdag," stated Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Yulia Svyrydenko.
Previously, export credit agencies from several G7 countries confirmed their participation in insuring political risks for their companies operating in Ukraine. They provide guarantees against risks such as political violence, non-convertibility, and expropriation.
Notably, as The Gaze reported, Bpifrance Assurance Export, the French state-owned company, will insure its national businesses ready to invest in Ukraine during the conflict. Any company operating according to French legislation and making long-term investments abroad in a new or existing company, or any credit institution providing a bank loan to a foreign branch, is entitled to this investment insurance.
It's worth mentioning that Poland was the first country in Europe to introduce a state insurance program for its companies doing business in Ukraine. This decision followed an incident where a Russian missile struck the window factory of the Polish company Fakro in Lviv, western Ukraine.