Obtaining credit for facilitating imports can play a critical role in encouraging international trade. The granting of import credits can be accomplished with the use of deferred-payment LCs – either revolving or non-revolving – or through the extension of an ordinary loan that is secured by the letter of credit. Such loans would typically have the same criteria as would be used for ordinary commercial lending.

Import credit is usually granted on short-term basis, with interest rates approaching those seen in the commercial loan context. Complete financing of imports on credit is not possible for first-time customers under normal terms. 

The Russian government does not offer any import credit assistance. Foreign export-credit bureaus, including the Ex-Im Bank of the United States and the Hermes Bank based in Germany do provide deferred credit arrangements, some even long-term, for the importation of industrial machinery. The only limitation of these private lenders is that the exporter must be based in the home country where the bank is located. Today, Ex-Im Bank has an outstanding portfolio in Russia of approximately USD 1.4 billion in such sectors as aviation, health care, and mining, and a pipeline of pending projects with a value of up to USD 750 million.