News Releases

May 22, 2002

IDB announces $32 million loan to Trinidad and Tobago to support housing improvements for low-income groups

Investments to reach $100 million in two phases

The Inter-American Development Bank today announced the approval of a $32 million loan to Trinidad and Tobago to support the first phase of a $100 million national housing program designed to benefit low-income groups.

The resources will be used to improve living conditions for 5,400 families in squatter settlements by financing basic services, communal facilities and formal tenure documents. The program will also provide subsidies for both home improvements and new housing for an additional 4,100 persons in low-income groups, and a modernization process will be initiated at the Ministry of Housing.

As new, affordable new housing stock is produced, the government will shift its role from the builder of costly public housing estates to a facilitator that encourages the private sector to take the lead in the production of affordable housing. The reform will enable the Ministry of Housing to benefit an estimated 30 percent more families than in the past, with substantially more effective low-income targeting.

The program reflects the IDB’s strategy of supporting reform of the public sector and poverty reduction. It will build upon the experience of the first stage of government’s national settlements program, which was launched in 1989 with IDB support.

After the new program is completed, the IDB is expected to support a second phase with another loan of $48 million. Local counterpart funds will be $8 million in the first phase and $12 million in the second phase.

The $32 million IDB loan for the first phase is for a 25-year term, with a three-year grace period, at the variable interest rate, now 6.19 percent.

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