The Export-Import Bank of Korea said Wednesday it plans to provide an additional 5 trillion won ($4.4 billion) to exporters and small firms in the second half of the year in an effort to ease liquidity problems.

The state-run trade bank said it plans to expand trade financing by 3 trillion won for exporters, which are having trouble securing liquidity amid the slowing global economy.

Eximbank also said it will inject the remaining funds to ailing shipyards, builders and other small companies.

South Korea’s exports, which account for about 50 percent of its economy, are feared to cool this year as global demand weakens because of the eurozone debt crisis.

The bank also said Wednesday it has raised 500 million Australian dollars ($515.7 million) by selling so-called “Kangaroo bonds” as part of its efforts to diversify its funding sources.

The bonds will come due in three years and carry an interest rate of 1.90 percentage points above the Australian bank bill swap rate, the policy lender said in a statement, adding it is the largest amount ever raised by a Korean lender in the Australian bond market.

Kangaroo bonds are Australian dollar-denominated bonds floated in Australia by a non-Australian company.

Meanwhile, Eximbank said it inked a deal to provide development loans worth $28.5 million to Laos in order to help the country set up the latest administrative data support system.

The money will be given in the form of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund, a state-run fund aimed at helping poor and less-developed countries with loans that carry low interest rates, Eximbank said in a statement.

The computerized data system to be built with the loan will process and hold information on taxation, land and vehicles over five different states in the Southeast Asian country. The policy lender on Tuesday signed the loan agreement with Laotian finance minister in Seoul.

The loan comes due in 40 years and has a 15-year grace period, at an annual interest rate of just 0.01 percent, it said.

The South Korean government has so far provided a total of 195.0 billion won ($170.9 million) through the EDCF to Laos as of end-2011, according to Eximbank. (Yonhap News)