Just Published 2019 Industry Data Review provides a valuable pre-COVID benchmark

Berne Union Members provided USD 2.4 tn of cover in direct support of export credit and foreign investments in 2019, and paid out USD 6.2 bn - Our comprehensive 2019 industry data report provides a valuable benchmark for the pre-COVID state of export credit insurance

Overall, this level of new business is relatively flat compared to the previous year, and in line with the reported 3% contraction in the value of global cross-border trade. Volumes of new MLT export credit insurance continued to decline, year on year, while new cover under short term export credit and investment / political risk insurance remained flat.

Claims paid were marginally lower than in 2018, but within the average range of the past 10 years, relative to total commitments. MLT claims fell 19% year-on-year, while ST claims increased 8%. For the frst time (in Berne Union data) ST claims paid were higher than for MLT business, driven largely by increasing claims paid by private insurers for risks in Western Europe. The majority of claims paid are due to commercial (non-payment) rather than political risks. The exceptions are for Venezuela and countries located predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Click here to download the full report, including an assessment of the impact of COVID-19 from this point of departure, and a comment on the macroeconomic context as we move through 2020, by Oxford Analytica.