The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) and the Dubai Economic Council (DEC) inked a $5bn (AED18.36bn) Memorandum of Understanding on 11 April at Ex-Im Bank’s 38th Annual Conference, $1.68bn more than last year.

The export-credit support will be used to finance DEC’s members’ and customers’ procurement of U.S. goods and services for a variety of Dubai infrastructure projects, such as air-traffic control and airport infrastructure; railway, urban-metro, and port-development projects; power generation; oil, gas, and petrochemical projects; and water-treatment projects.

In September of last year, the Ex-Im Bank authorised a $2bn direct loan to Abu Dhabi’s Barakah One Company, which will use it to finance the construction of the first nuclear power plant of the Arabian Peninsula, which upon completion will be among the in the world. Four nuclear reactor power-generating units will come online at one-year intervals effective 2017 and yield an aggregate capacity of 5,600 megawatts gross electricity.

Other Dubai entities that have used credit support from Ex-Im Bank include Emirates Aluminium, which received $316m in 2010 to build a 1.4 million tonnes per year aluminum smelter complex at Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa’s Port and Industrail Zone and Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, which received $567.4m worth of export credit assistance in 2009.