Latin America Top Region For IFC Financing

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, announced that Latin America and the Caribbean region represented the largest recipient of IFC financing during fiscal 2006, receiving $2.6 billion in total. The IFC has invested $31 billion in the region in the past 50 years, according to the organization. In fiscal year 2006, the Corporation committed $1.75 billion to 69 private sector projects, as well as $888 million from commercial banks through syndicated loans, for a total of $2.6 billion. This financing was broadly distributed throughout the region, with the largest support for companies in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, the Caribbean, Central America, and Peru, across such sectors as infrastructure, housing, microfinance, agribusiness, and oil and gas.