Operations

IDB operations include investment loans, policy-based loans, private sector loans, microenterprise, emergency loans, guarantees, technical cooperation grants, project preparation funding. The Bank also provides trade financing through its private sector department and investment financing through the Multilateral Investment Fund and the Inter-American Investment Corporation.

In 2005, the Bank adopted a new lending framework for improved flexibility and competitiveness. The IDB also adopted a local currency facility and increased the ceiling of direct lending to the private sector to up to $400 million for a single project.

Detailed information on Bank-financed operations is available on the Projects pages and it can also be searched on the Statement of Approved Loans.

The Bank has made an effort to see that its lending operations directly benefit low-income populations. Its innovative Social Entrepreneurship Program (formerly known as the Small Projects Program) seeks to provide financing to microentrepreneurs and small-scale farmers and, since 1990, the Bank has broadened its support to the informal sector. The Bank has financed policy-based loans and debt reduction programs. In 1995 it began lending to the private sector, without government guarantees.

Each IDB operation has its own eligibility requirements for lending.