The U.S. Export-Import Bank, which guarantees bank loans  for U.S. exports overseas, plans to assign a loan officer to the U.S.   embassy in Beijing starting May 1 for six months, a spokeswoman for the   Washington-based bank said.     
It would be the second time the bank had put an officer in Beijing as  part of an effort to boost U.S. exports to China. The bank has also   temporarily assigned loan officers to U.S. embassies in Latin America in   the past, she added.     
  
The bank authorized $11.5 billion in loan guarantees and insurance for  the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, roughly as much as in the previous 12   months.   
The bank was set up 64 years ago; its charter must be periodically  renewed by Congress. The current charter, authorized in 1992, is due to   expire at the end of September.