The Inter-American Development Bank approved a $15 million loan to Chile to support the modernization of the office of the Comptroller General, a body with critical state auditing and accounting functions.
The resources will enable the Comptroller General’s office to establish an organizational structure that will further its objectives through strategic planning, a new audit model and results-based management.
The program will include modernization of information processes and technologies, upgrading of the staff through training and new human resources policies and the introduction of innovative control systems through pilot projects and joint initiatives with municipalities.
Among other benefits, the program will result in the fine-tuning and implementation of the information technology master plan of the Comptroller General’s office and greater internal integration and real-time information exchange among agencies and personnel. In addition, staff working conditions and physical facilities will be improved.
The project follows the course of a modernization of the state program launched in Chile in 1997 - an area that is also a priority of the Bank’s strategy for the country.
The IDB loan is for a 20-year term, with a 4 and _ year grace period, at the variable annual interest rate, now 6.97 percent. Local counterpart funds total $10 million.
Previous IDB operations have financed the upgrading of various control and audit institutions in Argentina, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Peru and Uruguay.