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Guidance

Local Currency Financing: eligible currencies

UKEF can guarantee a buyer credit loan to an overseas borrower in local currency, finance the purchase of capital goods, services and/or intangibles from a UK exporter, subject to a suitable local partner bank being found.

Updates to this page

From:
UK Export Finance
Published:
9 March 2020
Last updated:
31 January 2025
Show all updates

  1. Second line on 'tradable currencies' added to the HTML attachment.

  2. Colombian Peso, Georgian Lari, Paraguayan Guarani and Trinidad and Tobago dollar were added to the list of eligible currencies.

  3. Gabon was removed from the list of eligible currencies.

  4. The following currencies have been added as available for local currency financing: Benin, CFA Franc Cameroon, CFA Franc Gabon, CFA Franc Senegal, CFA Franc Togo, CFA Franc

  5. We no longer have a case-by-case position for local currency financing so the list of these eligible currencies has been removed and the list of current currencies considered has been updated.

  6. Kazakhstan, Kazakhstani tenge now considered on a case-by-case basis.

  7. Croatian Kuna removed.

  8. Nigeria removed from 'case by case' list.

  9. Pakistani rupee removed from list of eligible currencies.

  10. Egyptian pound is now listed under 'Eligible Currencies’ rather than ‘Currencies considered case-by-case’.

  11. Removed Russian ruble and Ukrainian Hryvnia from list of eligible currencies.

  12. First published.

Documents

Local Currency Financing: eligible currencies

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Details

Loans can be made in up to 55 currencies subject to a suitable local partner bank being found that is willing to lend in the local currency. For the overseas borrower (and buyer) it reduces foreign currency risk and avoids a variable debt service cost.

A buyer credit in local currency follows the same format as a conventional buyer credit in a standard currency such as sterling, euros or US dollars except that it is funded from a bank in the buyer’s country.

Local Currency Financing is particularly suited to projects that do not usually generate foreign currency revenue, such as water/gas/electricity utilities, local transport and local municipalities.

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