**GAO-06-351**                      Published: Mar 03, 2006. Publicly Released: Mar 03, 2006.                  

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## Highlights

The Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) provides loans, loan guarantees, and insurance to support U.S. exports. Its level of support for small business has been a long-standing issue of congressional interest. Most recently in 2002, Congress increased the proportion of financing Ex-Im must make available for small business to 20 percent. GAO examined legal and policy issues related to Ex-Im's small business financing. Specifically, GAO (1) analyzes Ex-Im's methodology for calculating its direct support of small business and the reliability of Ex-Im's data used in the methodology and (2) describes Ex-Im's legal interpretation of its obligations under the statutory 20 percent small business mandate.

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## Topics

Business Regulation and Consumer Protection

Bank loansBanking lawData integrityExportingInternal controlsOff-budget federal entitiesSmall businessSmall business assistanceStatistical dataStatutory law