Evaluating the impact of export finance support on firm-level export performance: evidence from Pakistan

This paper evaluates the impact of two large export finance support schemes on firm-level export performance. The Export Finance Scheme (EFS) and the Long-Term Finance Facility for Plant & Machinery (LTFF), provide loans at subsidized interest rates for Pakistani exporters to finance working capital and the purchase of machinery and equipment respectively. We combine customs data with information on firms' participation in each program between 2015 and 2017 and use matching combined with difference-in-differences to estimate the effect of the subsidies on firms' export values, the number of products exported and the number of destinations they serve. We find that both programs deliver a large and positive impact on export growth rates - primarily along the intensive margin - and do so in an effective way relative to the direct financial cost of the subsidies.