The Inter-American Development Bank approved today a $700 million loan to Argentina to support the Plan Familias (Families Plan), a program of cash subsidies targeted at the poorest families to reduce the intergenerational transmission of poverty.
This loan will help implement, consolidate and expand a program based on conditional monetary transfers seeking to keep children in school and promote their access to basic health services and will benefit approximately 500,000 families.
The Plan Familias will focus on the most vulnerable population groups and will stress investment in the human and social capital of beneficiary families, complementing the subsidy payment with other key actions such as school support services, providing monetary and non-monetary incentives for young adults to complete school, job skill development and professional training.
The program is part of Argentina’s new medium and long-term social policy aimed at consolidating a social safety net. With this operation, the IDB is supporting the Argentine Government in the most critical area, the reorganization and redesign of the conditional subsidy programs to reach those beneficiaries with greater vulnerability.
The loan is for a 25-year period, with a three-year grace period, at a variable interest rate. Local counterpart funds total $300 million.