IDB Loan To Support Paraguay Long Term Finance (1)

A $150m conditional credit line from the IDB signed last week will help develop much needed mortgage and long-term financing in Paraguay, its finance minister Cesar Barreto Otazu tells LatinFinance. “The country needs to finance productive investments,” Barreto Otazu says. “Paraguay’s financial system cannot provide those resources because of the short term of the deposits in it,” he says. The loan will help strengthen long term financing initiatives led by Paraguay’s Development Finance Agency, a second tier financial unit created by the Paraguayan government. The IDB loan also will aid the country’s effort to boost meat exports, education reform and an economic census. Paraguay is planning to return to the international debt markets in 2009, the minister says. But it is currently implementing measures to improve the country’s rating and overall fiscal scenario. Upcoming elections also could help boost financial stability. “Once the political panorama is clearer in Paraguay we will be able to access the markets in better conditions,” Barreto Otazu says.