Honey, We Shrunk the Ex-Im Bank

And nobody outside Washington noticed.

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"The bank is famous for lending to the likes of Boeing and General Electric ; some 65% of the bank’s financing flowed to 10 large companies in 2014. 

Yet since 2015 the agency hasn’t been able to make loans of more than $10 million, and no one seems to have suffered as a result. Loans over $10 million require board approval, and the board hasn’t had a quorum, as Congress has not confirmed nominees. The lack of a quorum has converted the bank into a financier of small business, which proponents have always argued is the place’s purpose.

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University recently released an analysis showing that in 2018 some 66% of the bank’s financing flowed to small businesses, versus 25% in 2014. The bank’s risk exposure has dropped to $66 billion from $116 billion in 2013.

And how are the paupers at Boeing faring? Fine. Mercatus details how Boeing has found private alternatives to Ex-Im financing without incident. A 2019 outlook from the company reported that “airlines and lessors are expected to have some of their lowest historical costs of financing.”"

"The Export-Import bank at its peak in 2012 subsidized a mere 3.2% of $1.5 trillion in exported goods."