Luque (Paraguay), Mar 14 (EFE).- The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group closed on Saturday its annual meetings in Paraguay with a clear commitment to increasing the scale and impact of its operations, as well as the contributions of the private sector.
During the Board of Governors closing session, IDB Group President Ilan Goldfajn once again highlighted one of the main announcements made during the meetings: the completion of the $3.5 billion capitalization of IDB Invest, the group’s private-sector arm.
IDB Invest CEO James Scriven said in an interview with EFE that the institution’s new operational capacity will more than double compared with its first 10 years of activity. This has allowed it to increase financing from $75 billion to around $200 billion over the next decade.
In addition to record investments and the greater impact of the programs achieved this year, Scriven also welcomed the restructuring carried out within the organization.
“I brought in many people from outside, especially in the leadership group, bringing bankers into our organization so that we can give it a level of scalability it did not previously have,” he explained.
Looking ahead to Guatemala in 2027
Scriven also said that for the 2027 annual meetings, to be held in Guatemala, he expects to present two products currently under development that could have a significant impact in Latin America and the Caribbean.
One will focus on local currency financing and the other on equity investments. The strengthened operational capacity of IDB Invest will allow it to “make $300 million in equity investments in companies each year.”
For his part, Goldfajn highlighted to EFE the strong macroeconomic work carried out recently by Paraguay’s authorities. He described the country as an example of growth and development with strong support from the private sector.
He also emphasized the role the IDB is playing in various programs in the country, including those recently announced during the meetings, such as Paracel (a pulp producer and forest management company granted a program of up to $165 million) and Atome’s project to produce and export fertilizers from green hydrogen. Together, these initiatives account for about $1 billion per year in financing.
“When we look at what has been done in recent years and add what we are going to do, it will amount to nearly 7% of Paraguay’s GDP in which we will be involved,” he said.
New procurement system in IDB operations
The meetings also saw the presentation of Procure+, a reform of the procurement system for operations financed by the IDB.
In that regard, Goldfajn noted that member countries requested measures to attract more companies to bidding processes to improve competitiveness.
Procure+ also aims to increase transparency in contracts to identify “who the ultimate beneficiary is” and reduce potential conflicts of interest, the Israeli-Brazilian economist said. EFE