□ On September 18, Korea Eximbank (www.koreaexim.go.kr, Chairman & President Yong Hwan Kim) announced plans to expand support for small and medium enterprises by improving financial services.

○ The amount of expanded support is expected to reach KRW 2.25 trillion, including KRW 2 trillion in comprehensive export financing and KRW 250 billion for technological development, equipment investment, and expansion into overseas markets during the fourth quarter of the year.

○ Anticipating difficult export market conditions and a credit crunch due to the prolonged recession in the US and the European debt crisis, Korea Eximbank plans to provide preemptive support measures for SMEs as they are most vulnerable to changes in overseas business environments. The bank will provide financial services from September 19, in hopes to hasten the development of new growth industries into strong export industries.

□ Under the plan, Korea Eximbank will change support targets for comprehensive export financing* to SMEs exclusively and provide KRW 2 trillion in financing during the fourth quarter of the year. Large corporations would be excluded from these plans.

* Representative support system of Korea Eximbank for SMEs. Under the system, funds needed for production of export goods are provided within the scope of the company’s export performance.

□ In addition, Korea Eximbank will strengthen support for Korea’s strategic industries by including SMEs of the green & new growth engine industries** as new support targets of technical development funds which aim to strengthen export competitiveness and encourage exports for companies selected as candidates of Hidden Champions.

** IT fusion, biomedicine, high value contents & software, etc.

○ For the newly included companies, Korea Eximbank will provide KRW 250 billion in the fourth quarter of the year for technological development, equipment investment, and expansion into overseas markets.

○ In particular, Korea Eximbank will increase credit lines from KRW 10 billion up to 100 billion for biomedical companies developing new drugs and biosimilars. This decision was made due to the large amount of funding required for Korean companies to gain overseas rights for clinical trials and sale, and in consideration of a government-wide effort to develop the industry for export.

□ Korea Eximbank will also reorganize the target of a) facility funds, which support factory construction and expansion, and b) overseas market development funds, which support overseas market research and expansion consulting, to SMEs in the green & new growth engine industries.

○ By doing so, the bank will be able to differentiate its financial facilities from those of commercial financial institutions and to strengthen its market complementary function as a policy lender.

○ Promoting facility investments and overseas market identification for green & new growth engine industries which are at the early stages of export expansion is expected to secure competitiveness and growth potential as well as expand the production base for job creation.

□ An official from Korea Eximbank stated, “By developing a comprehensive support system for the entire stages of exportation such as investment in facilities, product development, and market identification, we have built an effective support base to strengthen export competitiveness of SMEs. As the first in the nation to develop a program fostering SMEs, Korea Eximbank will help alleviate current liquidity problems by identifying superior SMEs and providing timely financing appropriate to the stages of the projects.”