Graham: Export-Import Bank Crucial to SC growth

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) _ U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham warns the Federal Export-Import Bank is crucial for business to grow in South Carolina. The self-financed bank helps American companies sell abroad by providing credit and loan guarantees to foreign customers. The bank is up for reauthorization in Congress. There is some opposition and Graham told reporters during a Monday conference call that he would prefer there not be a bank. He says the United States would be fine if the world economy was governed by free markets. But Graham says that’s not the situation and other countries are increasingly using such banks to help their companies sell abroad. Graham says eight of the 10 planes Boeing is building in North Charleston during the plant’s first year of operation were sold with the bank’s help.