Public export finance for digital transformation
Authors
Andreas Klasen and Henning Meyer examine how European export credit agencies support digital exports through a ‘strategic triangle’ balancing competitiveness, internationalisation, and development effectiveness. They find uneven and limited progress, calling for stronger coordination and tools to better support partner countries’ digital transformation.
Summary
This paper examines how selected European export credit agencies (ECAs) finance digital infrastructure, technologies and services exports. It explores how they balance competitiveness, internationalisation and development effectiveness, referred to as the ‘strategic triangle’. The analysis considers digital technology exports across four segments: connectivity, data infrastructure, digital public infrastructure (DPI) and digital services.
Findings reveal a sector in transition, but not yet transformed. Connectivity and backbone is the focus for the majority of activity as traditional buyer credits fit best with tangible collateral and clear payment triggers. Support for data infrastructure and DPI is less systematic, with the latter falling between ECA and Development Finance Institution (DFI) mandates. Meanwhile, digital services are not covered well by ECAs due to intangibility and disputed-claim dynamics.
Recommendations focus on systemic reforms. Policymakers should:
- Strengthen coordination across national agencies (National Development Banks, DFIs, ECAs).
- Establish EU-level risk-sharing capacity, including local currency coverage.
- Create a distinct DPI pathway through blended structures combining EU grants, ECA buyer credits, and DFI sovereign loans.
- Clarify the roles of the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) and the Global Europe instrument.
These reforms aim to shift ECA positioning from reactive insurers of connectivity infrastructure toward system-level enablers of partner-country digital transformation.
