"Every country does this. It's traditionally been championed by Republicans," he said." But for some reason, right now the House Republicans have decided that we shouldn't do this."  As a result, when companies like Boeing and GE were competing for contracts with German or Chinese rivals "we may lose that sale", he said.  Research this year by George Mason University showed that 10 US companies receive three-quarters of ExIm Bank financing, with GE among the main beneficiaries. GE is likely to be one of the biggest participants in the Obama administration's Power Africa initiative to provide $7bn backing for energy projects in the continent over the next five years.  The Standard & Poor's rating agency warned in July that dissolution of the ExIm Bank could have a "significant" long-term impact on Boeing, the commercial aircraft maker which receives more than a third of the bank's credit.  Read MoreNever heard of the Ex-Im Bank? Here's why you will  The US is the only major bloc that today trades less with Africa than it did before the global financial crisis in 2007-8. The drop is, in part, due to a collapse in US oil imports from Africa but it also signals that the US is losing market share to China and other emerging countries, the EU and Japan.  Mr Immelt said the group's Africa business was doubling every four to five years and was "top of the line" in terms of regional growth rates. Within a few years, it was likely to be a similar size to its Latin America operations. The new investments to be announced this week include a manufacturing and assembly facility in Nigeria and a research facility in South Africa. The continent's infrastructure needs alone presented a $90bn opportunity.  —By Geoff Dyer, Financial Times. Additional reporting by Javier Blas in London
The U.S.'s decision to close its Export-Import Bank would damage U.S. companies trying to do business in Africa, GE's Jeff Immelt said.