Export finance agreement with the UK

By Mayora IP

CABEI, Central America’s leading development bank and the highest rated borrower in Latin America, has signed a partnership with the United Kingdom’s export credit agency (UKEF) to encourage joint financing of major clean energy, infrastructure and construction projects.


Both institutions will help finance major projects in Central America that involve UK exports. Governments and businesses in Central America looking to raise funds to develop larger projects can benefit from working with CABEI, while also accessing UKEF’s support that is aimed at reducing and spreading the cost of financing for buyers of UK exports.

Countries that can benefit from the joint financing agreement include Guatemala, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama.

This CABEI-UKEF MoU aims to boost trade links and builds on the UK-Central America trade association agreement signed in August 2019. The deal came into effect at the end of the UK’s transition period of leaving the European Union on 31 December 2020.

The 2019 comprehensive agreement established a political and economic association between the UK and Central America. It covers both trade in goods, including provisions on rules of origin, preferential tariffs and quotas, and trade in services. It also contains commitments in areas such as intellectual property, notably geographical indications, and government procurement.