ASHRA stopped providing foreign trade risk insurance to exporters to Greece

Due the difficult economic situation in Greece ASHRA had decided to stop the provision of credit insurance cover to Israeli exporters
 
ASHRA – The Israel Foreign Trade Risks Insurance Corporation Ltd., a company fully owned by the Israeli government announced last week that due the difficult economic situation in Greece it had decided to stop the provision of credit insurance cover to Israeli exporters to Greece.
 
The company has reduced Greece's credit ratings to D, the lowest rating.
David Milgrom's CEO at ICIC - Israel Credit Insurance Company noted that
"The downgrade of Greece's ratings was made after careful consideration and reflects the heightened risk that Greece may not be able to sustain its membership of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU),"
 
Based on figures published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), bilateral trade between Israel and Greece in 2011 was:
Export fro israel US$200 million worth of chemicals and oil products to Greece and imported US$36 million.
 
ASHRA operates mainly in developing countries, characterized by a high level of commercial and political risks, concerns that agreements will not be honored, and suffering from claims and difficulties in the transfer of funds.
 
ASHRA is involved in significant part of the mid and long-term export transactions to developing countries. Most of the insured countries are located in South East Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. At the end of 2011, ASHRA’s insurance portfolio included export transactions of more than US$14 billion in various fields such as industry, infrastructure, medical equipment, energy, communications, agriculture, security equipment, planning and engineering services.