(Source: Forbes)

Automaker’s finance unit is believed to have requested $2 billion loan from Japanese state-backed bank.

Finding it difficult to raise money in the U.S., Toyota Motor is reportedly seeking emergency funding of about 200 billion yen ($2 billion) in dollars from a governmental institution in Japan to support its U.S. auto-financing operations.

Commercial banks have been cautious to grant loans amid the credit crunch, particularly to the slumping auto industry, and Toyota (nyse: TM – news –people ) and several of its financing affiliates have had their credit ratings reduced, hurting their ability to raise money on the capital markets. As a result, Toyota Financial Services, an auto-financing unit of Toyota Motor, is turning to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation as a last resort for low-interest dollar loans, various Japanese media reported Wednesday.

In response to the global financial turmoil, the government funded an emergency JBIC program late last year to provide loans and debt guarantees to help Japanese firms finance operations overseas.

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