Export Credit Guarantees

What are the benefits?

The export credit guarantees provided by INVEGA enable companies to expand their export markets in countries with non-marketable or temporarily non-marketable risks and increase export volumes by minimizing the potential risk of customer insolvency.

What companies are eligible?

The enterprises that have been operating for more than one year with an annual income of over €100,000 according to the approved annual financial statements for the past financial year.

What is the maximum amount?

The maximum amount of all export credit guarantees per one exporter cannot exceed €2,000,000.

The maximum amount of all export credit guarantees per one buyer chosen by the exporter cannot exceed €750,000.

The aggregate of all export credit guarantees per one buyer across all exporters cannot exceed €2,000,000.

The upper limit of liability assumed by INVEGA (guarantee rate) shall be no more than 90 per cent of the aggregate of all deferred payments.

How is it calculated?

A fee payable for the export credit guarantee will depend on the risk profile of a foreign buyer, risk group of the country of destination and the due date of deferred payments.

You can find out the preliminary amount of the guarantee fee for countries with non-marketable risks for buyers using this calculator.

Guarantees cannot be issued

Guarantees cannot be issued in respect of buyers registered in any of the target territories, except for those target territories which are attributed to the priority export market groups established by the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania in the Lithuanian Guidelines of Export Development for 2014-2020 (Lithuanian language version).

INVEGA shall also not issue export credit guarantees in respect of buyers located in the following high-risk countries:

In addition, INVEGA does not provide export credit guarantees for buyers located in high-risk countries identified by the European Commission as having weaknesses in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, pursuant to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 ) 2015/849, as subsequently amended:

  • Afghanistan
  • Barbados
  • Burkina Faso
  • Cameroon
  • Cayman Islands
  • Democratic People's Republic of Korea
  • Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Gibraltar
  • Haiti
  • Iran
  • Jamaica
  • Jordan
  • Mali
  • Mozambique
  • Myanmar
  • Nigeria
  • Panama
  • Philippines
  • Senegal
  • South Africa
  • South Sudan
  • Syria
  • Tanzania
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Uganda
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Vanuatu
  • Vietnam
  • Yemen
Maximum term of deferred payments

The term of deferred payments cannot extend beyond 2 years. The exemption applies to agricultural products for which the deferred payment period may not exceed 18 month according to the World Trade Organization Nairobi Decision on Export Competition.

The time frame for raising invoices (the term within which the beneficiary of the guarantee may raise invoices for deliveries to buyers with a deferred payment option) cannot extend beyond 1 year.

Maximum amount covered and intensity

The maximum amount of all guarantees per one exporter cannot exceed €2,000,000 (two million euros).

The maximum amount of the guarantee per one buyer chosen by the exporter cannot exceed €750,000 (seven hundred fifty euros).

The aggregate of all guarantees per one buyer across all exporters cannot exceed €2,000,000 (two million euros).

The upper limit of liability assumed by INVEGA (guarantee rate) shall be no more than 90 per cent of the aggregate of all deferred payments.

Eligible applicants

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (“MSMEs”) registered in Lithuania that have been operating for more than one year (from the day of registration) with an annual income of over €100,000 according to the approved annual financial statements for the last financial year.

The lifespan of an MSME shall be established as of the day of application registration at INVEGA.

The applicant cannot be an undertaking in difficulty as it is defined in the Communication from the Commission – Guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restructuring non-financial undertakings in difficulty (2014/C 249/01).

The applicant and the buyer cannot be affiliated companies and/or partner companies as they are defined in the Law on Small and Medium-Size Business Development of the Republic of Lithuania.

The applicant cannot have any outstanding liabilities to the state, i.e. the amount of outstanding tax, including national insurance contributions, is less than €50, or a schedule for the payment of tax in instalments is in place, or the payment of tax has been deferred by decision of the tax authority.

The applicant’s activities cannot be in violation of the OECD Council Recommendation on Bribery and Officially Supported Export Credits.

There cannot be any judicial or arbitration proceedings instituted between the applicant and the buyer.

Eligible buyers

Buyers must be registered in countries with non-marketable or temporarily non-marketable risks.

The buyer cannot be registered in any of the target territories (Lithuanian language version), except for those target territories which are attributed to the priority export market groups established by the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania.

The buyer must be active on the market for more than two years from the date of registration.

The buyer cannot have any debts overdue and payable to the exporter.

Guarantee fee

A fee payable for the export credit guarantee will depend on the risk profile of a foreign buyer, risk group of the country of destination, amount of the guarantee and the due date of deferred payments. This fee is calculated for each declared sale of export goods (with a deferred payment option) during the applicable term for invoicing.

The guarantee fee is calculated on the basis of the methodology for calculating the remuneration of export credit guarantees, approved by the Board of INVEGA. You can find out the preliminary amount of the guarantee fee for non-marketable risk countries using this calculator>>.

Pricing for buyers in countries with temporarily non-marketable risks is based on the risk of the buyer’s risk category.

Before entering into a guarantee agreement, the applicant shall be required to pay an initial margin. This initial margin is non-refundable, except when this margin has not been paid for reasons other than the buyer’s fault. Afterwards a guarantee fee shall be calculated for every subsequent declared sale of export goods (with a deferred payment option) to the buyer made during the invoicing term. The guarantee fee calculated by INVEGA shall be set off against the initial margin (balance thereof) paid by the exporter, and/or paid to INVEGA as provided for in the export guarantee agreement.

Guarantee application submissions and conclusion of agreements

Once the initial assessment has been completed and a positive decision has been taken by INVEGA, the exporter will have to commission a report of solvency risk assessment in respect of the buyer and/or buyer’s guarantor. This report can be commissioned as follows:

  • by instructing INVEGA to commission such a report from a provider of creditworthiness evaluation services (to be indicated at the time of filling in of the application); or
  • by commissioning such solvency risk assessment personally within 7 calendar days from the day of dispatch of a notice by INVEGA about the positive initial assessment.
    The costs of solvency risk assessment shall be borne by the applicant.

The decision whether to issue or decline the guarantee shall be taken by INVEGA within 30 calendar days from the day of receipt of the report of solvency risk assessment.

Once the decision to issue the guarantee has been taken, a draft guarantee agreement shall be sent to the exporter along with a pro-forma invoice for the initial margin payment. The initial margin must be paid within 30 calendar days from the day of dispatch of the appropriate pro-forma invoice. Once the exporter has paid the initial margin, a guarantee agreement shall be concluded. Terms and conditions of this agreement (draft agreement) can be found here (Lithuanian language version).

If the exporter fails to pay within 30 calendar days, it shall be deemed that the exporter does not wish to use the guarantee and the guarantee will not be issued.

Amendments to terms and conditions

During the guarantee term, the beneficiary of this guarantee may contact INVEGA with a request to amend terms and conditions of the guarantee agreement. Amendments may relate to the following: guarantee duration, upper limit of guarantee liability, due date of deferred payments, beneficiary under the guarantee, changes to the buyer’s guarantor and/or limit of deferred payments.

Possibility to use factoring

At any time, but in any event no later than the date of a guarantee event the beneficiary of the guarantee may use factoring for invoices raised under an export agreement and enter into a factoring agreement with any legal person authorised to provide factoring services under the laws of the Republic of Lithuania. If the exporter chooses to use factoring, they shall be required to contact INVEGA with a request to amend terms and conditions of the guarantee.

Deferred payment declaration

A deferred payment declaration is a document of prescribed form by submitting which the beneficiary of the guarantee reports to INVEGA all of the deferred payments granted over the past calendar month. The beneficiary of the guarantee shall sent to INVEGA the deferred payment declaration for the invoices raised over the past calendar month and shall do so by the 10th, i.e. an electronic version of the declaration in Excel.

Guarantee event reporting

A report of a guarantee event (default in part or in full on a deferred payment by the due date of the deferred payment, or in the case of a private buyer bankruptcy) shall be submitted within 60 calendar days from the due date of each deferred payment stated on the invoice, i.e. no later than within 60 calendar days from the expiry of the due date of the deferred payment. Within 10 calendar days from the date of the guarantee event report the beneficiary of the guarantee has to enter into an agreement with a debt collection agency for the recovery of deferred payment debt from the buyer.

Debt collection

The beneficiary of the guarantee shall have 10 calendar days from the day of the guarantee event report to enter into an agreement with a debt collection agency for the recovery of deferred payment debt from the buyer.

If a particular debt collection agency that the beneficiary of the guarantee wishes to commission is not included in the list of approved agencies produced by INVEGA, the beneficiary may contact INVEGA within 5 calendar days from the date of the guarantee event report asking INVEGA’s consent for a debt collection agreement with that particular debt collection agency. Should this be the case, INVEGA shall have 10 calendar days from the day of such request to provide its consent or disapproval. In the event that INVEGA disapproves of a particular debt collection agency, the beneficiary of the guarantee shall be required to enter into an agreement for the recovery of deferred payment debt with a debt collection agency included in the list of approved debt collection agency produced by INVEGA and shall do so within 10 calendar days.

Debt collection efforts shall last for up to 90 calendar days starting from the day of production of the guarantee event report to INVEGA.

List of debt collection agencies

The list is not exhaustive. In case a debt recovery company with experience in dealing with debt recovery abroad would like to be included in the list should contact Invega by email info@invega.lt.

Disbursement of guarantee payments

Provided the beneficiary of the guarantee had performed all legally required and reasonable actions to collect debt stemming from a deferred payment and failed to collect this debt, the beneficiary may, within 90 calendar days from the end of debt collection efforts or in the case of the buyer’s bankruptcy, contact INVEGA with a request to make a guarantee payment. Along with this request for a guarantee payment the beneficiary shall be required to produce written data and other evidence supporting the claim, amount of the claim and compliance with the terms and conditions of export credit guarantee provision as outlines in the general part of the guarantee agreement.

Terms and conditions of guarantee disbursement shall be outlines in the guarantee agreement.