A federal export assistance programme once operated by the Foreign Agricultural Service. Loans were made directly by the Commodity Credit Corporation at USDA-determined interest rates to foreign buyers of agricultural commodities. Through FY1980, government credit for agricultural exports was made available through the GSM-5 program. For budget austerity reasons, the programme was replaced with federal export credit guarantees in FY1981. A more limited blended credit programme was used in FY1983-85 that combined direct credit with guaranteed credits.