The European Commission has provided a coordination for the extension of the term of issuance of short-term export credit guarantees to European Union and developed OECD countries, thus Latvian undertakings will be able to receive short-term export credit guarantees until 31 December of this year regardless of the size of the exporting company and the (buyer’s) debtor’s country, but no guarantees will be provided for transactions with Russia and Belarus.

To maintain and contribute to the overall economic stability, we will continue to provide support to entrepreneurs for which the situation created by Russia’s aggressive invasion of Ukraine has significantly changed existing economic activity and adjusted growth plans. We have extended the term of the Altum export guarantee programme to help exporting companies to refocus and stabilise the situation with the challenges of economic activity,” Ilze Indriksone, the Minister of Economics, says.

As it is known, state aid for export transactions in the form of financial instruments in Latvia is provided by the financial institution Altum, providing exporting economic operators with the possibility to receive export credit guarantees, thus securing themselves against the insolvency or long-term non-payment of foreign purchasers when selling goods or providing services with a deferred payment term not exceeding 730 days, except for export transactions for agricultural products, the term of deferred payments of which cannot exceed 547 days, and the amount of the transaction with one debtor is not more than EUR 2 million.

Within the framework of the short-term export credit guarantee programme, merchants and cooperative companies providing agricultural services may receive support by submitting an application to the Development Finance Institution “Altum”. This means that exporters will be able to obtain export credit guarantees to European Union countries and developed OECD countries until the end of the year regardless of the size of the exporting company and the volume of export turnover in previous years.

The amendments to CM Regulations No. 866 of 20 December 2016 “Regulations for Issuance of Short-Term Export Credit Guarantees to Merchants and Corresponding Cooperative Companies Providing Agricultural Services” coordinated by the European Commission may be read on the legislation portal.