Uribe Calls for More Lending

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.”