The following operations were approved in recent weeks by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF):
Argentina
A $140 million IDB loan to support the modernization of small and medium-size firms through the use of technological innovations
A $10 million IIC loan and a $20 million IIC syndicated loan to Banco Río de la Plata, S.A., to provide small and medium-size companies with medium-term financing.
A $6 million MIF investment in Argentina Risk Capital Fund for Small Enterprises to provide equity and quasi-equity to support small businesses.
A $5 million IDB loan to support the process of shaping and strengthening foreign trade policy.
Belize
A $1.05 million MIF grant to help the government reform the country’s ports.
Bolivia
A $2 million MIF financing line and a $250,000 MIF technical cooperation grant to help develop the microfinance sector.
Brazil
A $62.5 million IDB loan to help preserve urban historical and cultural sites, improve their management and develop a preservation strategy and priorities (see article, facing page).
A $10 million IDB loan from ordinary capital and a $10 million syndicated loan to expand and upgrade a toll road in Rio de Janeiro owned and operated on a concession basis by Linha Amarela, S.A.
A $5 million IDB loan to support the process of shaping and strengthening foreign trade policy.
A $898,950 grant from the Japan Special Fund to support the creation of decentralized energy services based on renewable sources in isolated communities.
Colombia
A $38.6 million IDB loan to Empresa de Acueducto y Alcantarillado de Pereira, S.A. E.S.P. Colombia to support the municipal water company’s objectives to become operationally efficient and financially self- sustaining and to improve the water distribution and sanitation services of the metropolitan area of Pereira.
A $36 million IDB loan to start an educational reform process that will decentralize school management, increase efficiency and social equity in the allocation of resources, and improve quality of educational services.
Dominican Republic
A $71 million IDB loan to help reform and modernize potable water and sanitation services in order to increase coverage, efficiency, and quality.
A $1.08 million MIF grant to help establish a new institutional and legal framework for the water supply and sanitation sector.
El Salvador
A $5,044,500 IDB loan to help transform the Court of Accounts into the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic with improved management, information and auditing systems.
A $3,436,000 IDB loan to help the Legislative Assembly become more efficient, effective and transparent through changes in procedures, administration and information technology.
Guyana
A $940,000 MIF grant to strengthen the country’s property rights system.
Honduras
A $7 million IIC loan to Banco La Capitalizadora Hondureña, S.A., to support small and medium-sized enterprises through a solid and highly regarded commercial bank with a track record in project lending.
Jamaica
A $35 million IDB loan to strengthen the capacity of local governments to finance and manage basic services and to maintain infrastructure.
Nicaragua
A $982,456 MIF grant to support alternative mechanisms for settling property disputes.
A $1.8 million grant from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation to help the government strengthen the management of its social policy.
Peru
A $1.5 million MIF grant to strengthen rural and municipal savings and loan institutions.
A $1 million MIF grant to strengthen the regulation and supervision of credit unions.
Regional
A $20 million IIC agency credit line to be managed by the Latin American Agribusiness Development Corporation, S.A. The corporation will channel long-term funding to small and medium-sized agribusiness enterprises in 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries.
A $2.8 million MIF grant to help universities provide training in infrastructure privatization, regulation and finance, and to create synergies among the participating institutions.