Spain allocates US $ 45 million to cooperation in Latin America

Spain will allocate US $ 45 million to development cooperation in Latin America, divided into several initiatives, including the acquisition of shares in a fund for SMEs or a loan of US $ 20 million to the Dominican Republic.

The Spanish government approved this budget item from which other countries in the region such as Colombia, Peru, Bolivia or Paraguay will also benefit.

The objective of the US $ 20 million loan for 18 years to the Dominican Republic is to participate in the Prorural project, aimed at reducing monetary poverty and the vulnerability of rural families.

Spain will also pay US $ 450,000 to IFAD, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, for the cost of preparing and supervising the project.

The budget line also authorizes the acquisition of US $ 7 million of shares in Andes Plus Fund I, L., a fund that provides financing to SMEs that serve underserved local communities and that focuses on Colombia and Peru, with the possibility of to expand to countries such as Bolivia, Paraguay or Ecuador if the fund exceeds US $ 30 million.

The Spanish government also gives the green light to a loan of US $ 15 million and nine years of amortization to Banco Azul de El Salvador SA, with the aim of increasing the loan portfolio for small and medium-sized companies in that country, as well as for finance clean energy projects.

SICSA, the Society for the Inclusion of Microenterprises in Central America and the Caribbean, which provides services to national microfinance networks and operates in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, Countries of Middle Income Association and also in Costa Rica or Panama, of Advanced Cooperation.

All these initiatives are carried out by Fonprode, the Fund for the Promotion of Development, which is administered by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Aecid).