Category: Bonds

The Andean Development Corporation (CAF), considered the financial arm of the Andean Community, has agreed loans of $290 million to Venezuela for development in the areas of transport, agriculture, drinking water, trade and technology. Projects being financed include a railway between Caracas and the state of Miranda.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has issued a 10-year local-currency bond for Ps1 billion ($93 million) in the Mexican market, offering a rate of 8.67%. In Mexico 65% of the issue was taken up by Afores (pension funds) and the rest by foreign investors. The issue was oversubscribed by Ps1.3 billion and was led by HSBC. The IDB issued a three-year peso-denominated bond in Mexico last year for Ps3 billion paying 6.59% per annum. Following this issue, the Bank launched local-currency bonds in Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Peru, helping to develop an international market in Latin American paper. Former Colombian diplomat, Luis Alberto Moreno, officially took over as IDB president yesterday following the resignation earlier in the year of Enrique Iglesias who headed up the Bank for 17 years.

The Inter-American Development Bank, IDB, has approved a $37.5 million loan to help finance an electricity connection project between Guatemala and Mexico. The total cost of the project from the Guatemalan side is estimated will reach $43.3 million. The loan would cover 87% of these costs.

Enrique Iglesias, president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is retiring after 17 years heading up the organization. Iglesias, former foreign minister of Uruguay and director of CEPAL, was elected president in 1988 and has been reelected every four years since then. Spanish-born Iglesias will be replaced by Colombian diplomat and former minister of economic development, Luis Alberto Moreno, from 1 October.

Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, called upon the president-elect of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno, to prioritize micro-lending when he assumes the presidency of the IDB. Uribe spoke at a lunch hosted by the Council of the Americas and the Colombian American Association on Friday September 16. Moreno, Colombia’s Ambassador to the United States, who was also in attendance, assumes the presidency of the IDB on October 1. Uribe said Colombia needed “to democratize access to loans”, and added, “I hope the IDB will lead [in] micro lending.” Uribe said expanding credit to the poor will help Colombia defeat violence and terrorism. “The only way to [defeat] hatred is to create a society of inclusion, to democratize loans and expand credit to small and medium enterprises.” He also called upon the many bankers present “to do their job, to expand loans to people.”