Ando Geol Calls for Raising EDCF Small Loan Threshold to 20 Million Dollars

Export-Import Bank Urged to Support SME Overseas Expansion
Calls for New Loan Program for Companies Participating in Strategic Material Reserves

Ando Geol, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, asking a question.

Ando Geol, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea representing Gwangju Dongnam-eul, urged the Export-Import Bank of Korea to play a more active role in securing the nation’s future industrial competitiveness and revitalizing the overseas expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the National Assembly audit of the bank held on October 27.

In particular, he strongly called for the expansion of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the establishment of a support system for securing key strategic materials, and the increased participation of SMEs in the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) projects, which have been mainly operated by large corporations.

Ando stressed the urgent need to build three key infrastructures-data centers, renewable energy, and the expansion of reserves for strategic materials such as copper and aluminum-to help Korea become one of the top three AI powerhouses. He emphasized the importance of private sector participation in achieving these goals.

He also pointed out the low utilization rate of the current Supply Chain Stabilization Fund. Ando suggested that, since it is difficult to meet the growing demand for reserves with only government finances, a new loan support program should be established for companies participating in the strategic material reserves, thereby encouraging more active involvement from the private sector.

According to data submitted to Ando by the Export-Import Bank of Korea, the scale of EDCF project bids surged more than elevenfold from 300 billion won in 2020 to 3.4 trillion won in 2025. However, the share of domestic SMEs in these bids plummeted from 58% to 2% over the same period, highlighting the severity of the situation. This indicates that as EDCF projects have grown larger, opportunities for SME participation have actually decreased. In fact, over the past five years, cases of bids for small loans of less than 7 million dollars have been extremely rare.

Ando stated, "The global procurement market is worth about 12 trillion dollars, with 2 trillion dollars accessible to our companies, but their market share is only 1%." He emphasized, "To help SMEs enter overseas procurement markets, the threshold for small loans should be raised from the current 7 million dollars to 20 million dollars."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.