Partnership to provide funding for Latin American and Caribbean banks

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the OPEC Fund for International Development last week signed a co-lending agreement to drive further trade financing to Latin America and the Caribbean.

The partnership, which builds on the work of the bank´s successful trade finance facilitation programs, is a shared effort to provide financing to eligible Latin American and Caribbean banks.

“This groundbreaking partnership furthers the efforts of IDB to reach out to strategic partners such as OFID in its quest to increase the amount of available financing for trade activity in LAC,” Gema Sacristán, chief of the IDB’s Financial Markets Division, said. “Since trade is a fundamental economic driver for the region, this partnership between OFID and IDB will have far-reaching effects.”

The partnership will allow banks to borrow on commercial terms to meet the needs of under-served trade clients by using IDB’s extensive network and knowledge of the region.

“In a globalized world, we need to work together and build effective partnerships. OFID welcomes the emergence of new directions of trade and investments and of a new development cooperation landscape,” OFID Director-General Suleiman Al-Herbish said. “A partner such as IDB with its vast range of market knowledge in (Latin America and the Caribbean) will enable OFID to step up its activities to reach more beneficiaries in the region.”