US will help Eximbank double exports in 5 yrs

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President Barack Obama's administration will ensure the US Export-Import Bank has the resources its needs to help double exports in five years, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday.

"We're going to work hard to do what the president said, to make sure you have enough firepower to do sensible things to support American exporters. We think it's good policy," Geithner said at the Eximbank's annual conference.

But "we need to do it carefully, make sure you're putting it in areas where you're going to get very good returns," Geithner added, during an on-stage conversation with Eximbank President Fred Hochberg.

Obama set a goal of doubling U.S. exports to more than $3 trillion over five years in his State of Union speech, and outlined his strategy in a speech on Thursday at the Eximbank conference. One plank of his plan included a new $2 billion Eximbank program for small and medium-sized exporters.

As other sources of credit dried up during the global financial crisis, the Eximbank authorized a record $21.02 billion in loans, guarantees and export credit insurance to support exports in the fiscal year that ended on September 30.

The pace accelerated in the first three months of fiscal 2010, with Eximbank authorizing $9.9 billion in loans, guarantees and insurance, or more than triple the amount in October through December 2009.

"We do believe that exports are America's future, and how American exporters are doing, how American businesses are doing around the world is a good measure of how America is doing," Geithner said.