The Export-Import Bank of Korea (www.koreaexim.go.kr, Chairman Yong Hwan Kim, “Korea Eximbank”) announced on November 30 that it has reached early this year’s target of providing KRW 1 trillion of credit for SMEs through the bank’s proprietary Global PaSS Program, designed to promote shared growth between large exporting companies and SMEs.

This is the result of the active funding support the bank has been providing throughout the year to SMEs struggling to weather the global economic recession. An additional KRW 100 billion of funding is planned for the remainder of the year.

The bank has also signed MOUs for shared growth with 31 large exporters and the tier-1 suppliers of nine large companies since launching the Global PaSS Program in December last year.

Such MOUs have benefitted SMEs in the shipbuilding, construction, and plant equipment sectors hit by the global economic crisis, as well as assisting SMEs in the automotive and IT sectors to expand overseas alongside their large-company clients.

The MOUs with the tier-1 suppliers of large enterprises, in particular, were meant to ensure that the benefits of shared growth would extend all the way down to second and third-tier suppliers.

Korea Eximbank has held a total of seven conferences with the suppliers of the large enterprises who are signatories to the MOUs ？ starting with the suppliers of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction in February, LG Electronics and Hyundai Heavy Industries in April, and Hyundai/KIA Motors in November ？ in which the bank outlined how the suppliers could exploit the MOUs to their benefit.
In September, the bank also toured various regions in the country, giving briefing sessions to potential clients about the agency’s differentiated programs to support SMEs.

Chairman Yong Hwan Kim of Korea Eximbank stated, “The competitiveness of a company depends on building a stable supply chain by networking effeciently with suppliers. Korea Eximbank will continue to assist large companies and SMEs in deepening their cooperative ties on a global level by spreading our shared growth programs throughout their supply chains.”