Bush crony to head up US lending arm

President George W. Bush has chosen a Florida developer and top Republican fundraiser to be the next chairman of the US Export Import Bank, according to the Financial Times of 17th February. Eximbank, which is funded by US taxpayers, provides $15bn in loans to buyers, mainly in developing countries, for the purchase of US exports.

The White House is expected shortly to announce the appointment of Sembler, who was national finance chairman of the Republican party from 1997 to 2000, and the Florida Representative to the Republican National Committee. According to the FT, Mr. Sembler's appointment comes at a critical time for the Eximbank. The Bush administration has proposed cutting the agency's $938 million budget by 24% in order to help offset the cost of Mr. Bush's proposed $1,600bn tax cut. The planned budget cut has drawn sharp criticisms from large US companies such as Boeing, which draw on government financing to compete for contracts in developing countries. Mr. Sembler would replace James Harmon, a Democratic appointee, who has been given high marks for increasing Exim's ability to help the US compete with aggressive export promotion efforts by governments in Europe, Japan and Canada.

Mr. Sembler has long been active in Republican politics, and is closely connected with both the Bush family and important Republicans on Capitol Hill. Mr. Sembler founded The Sembler Company in 1962, a St. Petersburg, Florida-based company that has developed 71 shopping centres across the US south-east.

Ann Pettifor, co-ordinator of Jubilee+ said: "Eximbank effectively offers $15bn of subsidy to US exporting companies. Mr. Sembler will face many temptations to use these taxpayers funds improperly, to favour other Republican donors and cronies who are exporters.. Sembler has been appointed to help US export businesses avoid the discipline of market forces and win contracts with the help of public money - yet another example of the double standards of free marketeers.

"Unfortunately while Eximbank's compulsive lending might give a helping hand to Boeing and other US companies - it also transfers the burden of these subsidies to taxpayers in poor nations, who are obliged to repay the debts at high rates of interest."

55% of the debt owed to the US by the poorest, most indebted nations, is owed to Eximbank.

According to a report produced by the IMF in the mid 1990s, " For the 20 main recipients of export credits, which include all major debtor countries, export credits account for nearly half of their debt to official creditors."