The European Commission decided on Friday 27 March to temporarily remove all countries from the list of 'marketable risk' countries in the Communication on short-term export-credit insurance.
The amendment of the Communication reinforces the flexibility introduced by the Commission's temporary State aid framework to allow state insurers to provide insurance for short-term export-credit.
These changes, explains Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President for Competition Policy, will allow companies affected by the COVID-19 outbreak to obtain short-term export-credit insurance policies from public insurers.
Export-credits enable foreign buyers of goods and/or services to defer payment.
On 23 March the Commission launched an urgent public consultation (see EUROPE 12452/4).
This public consultation revealed an imminent insufficiency of private insurance capacity for exports to all countries. In addition, the demand for insurance is expected to rise sharply as a result of the current crisis.
The Commission has decided to consider all risks associated with exports to all countries listed in the Annex as temporarily non-marketable and to remove all countries from the list of 'marketable risk' countries until 31 December 2020.
In addition, the green light has been given to another Luxembourg state aid scheme aimed at supporting the country's economy. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)