A state-backed or state-owned institution that insures, guarantees or directly finances export transactions the private market will not support on its own, typically because of the tenor, the country risk or the size of the exposure. Cover may sit with the exporter, with a lending bank, or with both. Mandates, ownership, pricing and product range differ country by country: some are government departments, some separately incorporated companies acting for the state, some also write commercial business on their own account. Several of the larger ones operate within an international understanding among governments on the terms of officially supported export credits, which constrains minimum premium, maximum tenor and repayment profile.
Why this entry carries no source list. This is a product category or an official document type rather than a defined term. What it covers or attests is set by the policy wording, the facility terms, or the requirements of the country demanding it — and those differ by insurer, by bank and by jurisdiction. Naming one provider’s brochure as the authority would dress a single firm’s practice as a general rule. Read the wording you are actually being offered.