The Inter-American Development Bank approved a $32 million loan to Trinidad and Tobago to support the first phase of a $100 million national housing program designed to benefit low-income groups.
The resources will be used to improve living conditions for 5,400 families in squatter settlements by financing basic services, communal facilities and formal tenure documents. The program will also provide subsidies for both home improvements and new housing for an additional 4,100 persons in low-income settings.
A portion of the program’s resources will be used to launch a modernization process within the Ministry of Housing, with the goal of shifting the government’s role from builder to facilitator of private sector investment in affordable housing.
IDB appoints new executive vice president
The IDB in July named Dennis E. Flannery executive vice president.
Flannery, an international financial specialist who has held several senior positions in both the public and private sectors, succeeded K. Burke Dillon, who retired from the Bank. A graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C., Flannery was managing director and founder of Stonehill Associates, LLC, a financial advisory services firm that provided advice and assistance to both corporate and government clients in areas such as private equity investment, debt restructuring, structured finance, trade finance and governmental relations.
His previous positions include vice president and director of international project finance for the First Boston Corporation and general partner for Kuhn Loeb Lehman Brothers International, where he was charged with developing and executing international corporate finance and government advisory assignments. Earlier in his career, he managed Bank of America’s international syndicated loan group and completed corporate credit training at Chase Manhattan Bank.
Flannery was a financial advisor for the World Bank from 1985 to 1995, where he participated in designing and negotiating that institution’s involvement in sovereign debt restructuring transactions in virtually every country in Latin America, as well as in other regions. He was also responsible for advising government officials on privatization operations and on other external financial matters.
Flannery is a former faculty member of the International Law Institute in Washington, D.C., and he has been a visiting lecturer on international financial matters at Columbia University, Georgetown University, University of Michigan, New York University and the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy.