The Origins of Czech Credit Guarantees Programs and the Value of Guarantee Fund Portfolio on Czech Stock Exchanges

This paper provides an overview of the credit provision in the Czech Republic at the beginning of the transition period. We show the economic forces leading to the creation of specialized government credit guarantee institution. While we provide a brief overview of different credit support institutions, we concentrate on credit guarantees in Czech agriculture, food industry and forestry. Besides the description of credit support activities, we also pay attention to financial sources of credit guarantee institution. Important financial source was its stock endowment which originated in the Czech privatization scheme. We provide an estimation of the value of this initial endowment according to two stock markets operating in the Czech Republic.