The United States Export-Import Bank announced today that it is prepared to accept applications for loans in Israeli pounds out of the proceeds of a commodity sales agreement between the United States and Israel which was signed on November 6, covering transfer of surplus agricultural commodities.
Under arrangements by the Export-Import Bank, 25 percent of the sales proceeds–or the Israeli pound equivalent of about $9,400,000–will be made available for loans by the Export-Import Bank to private business under the so-called Cooley amendment to the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act. The loans will be made and will be repayable in Israel pounds. Interest rates will be similar to those charged for comparable loans in Israel.
Under the Cooley Amendment the bank may lend Israeli pounds to U. S. firms or their branches, subsidiaries, or affiliates for business development and trade expansion in Israel, or to either U. S. or Israeli firm for expanding markets for and consumption of U. S. agricultural products. Determinants of affiliation with U. S. firms are made by a study of the share of ownership of the applicant by a U.S. firm, degree of control, common ownership, and general commercial and operating ties.
The law requires that loans be mutually agreeable to the Export-Import Bank and Israel, represented by the Ministry of Finance. The law prohibits loans for the manufacture of products to be exported to the United States in competition with products produced in the United States, or for the manufacture or production of commodities “to be marketed in competition with U.S. agricultural commodities or the products thereof.”
This is the second sales agreement with Israel under which Israeli pounds will become available for Cooley Amendment loans. The first such agreement was signed November 7, 1957, and on November 15, 1957, the Export-Import Bank announced that it was ready to receive applications for loans in Israeli currency. Applications aggregating several times the maximum amount which might become available for lending by the Bank having been received, the Bank terminated, on May 31, 1958, the receipt of additional applications for loans out of the proceeds of the sales agreement of November 7, 1957.
The Bank is now prepared to receive applications for loans cut of the proceeds of the new sales agreement signed this month. Such applications will be received either directly at the Export-Import Bank or at the American Embassy in Tel Aviv. Upon request, the Bank will provide a detailed statement of the information which will be required of applicants for loans.
Priority will be given applications for assistance in financing the procurement of fixed assets in Israel including land, buildings and machinery and equipment of Israeli origin. Applications for loans in Israeli pounds presented prior to May 31, 1958 and not specifically rejected by the Bank will be considered in connection with the proceeds of the sales agreement of Nov. 6, 1958, or may be resubmitted with amendments if the applicant so desires.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
