Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) have proved robust amid the economic bulldozer that is the Covid-19 pandemic, and the product has never been in greater use with applications for cover ballooning. But ECAs are also becoming more risk averse as the pandemic shows no clear end in sight.

Russia’s syndicated loan market activity is set to boom at the beginning of 2021, according to sources, as corporates delay their Q4 2020 fundraising plans to avoid any lingering ‘Covid premiums’ in anticipation of more favourable pricing conditions early next year.

Alternative lenders cannot solely pick up the funding gap left by European commercial banks retreating from the commodity finance space in the Covid-19 epoch. But can bank-fund collaboration based on the different stages of the transportation of goods provide a viable deal template going forward?

Rio Tinto via its ownership of Turquoise Hill Resources has finally inked an agreement for the additional financing of the long-dated Oyu Tolgoi mining project in Mongolia - albeit with significant construction risk.

TXF is joined by Melanie Lawrence of Afreximbank, Gabriel Buck of GKB Ventures and Chris Mitman of Investec to discuss the challenges faced in providing export finance to Africa.