The Inter-American Development Bank today announced the approval of a $3 million soft loan to Honduras to support the 16th national population census and the 5th national housing census.
The project will provide the necessary resources to ensure the quality of the census and will also strengthen the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas,* the agency that will carry out the census together with an executing agency created for this purpose.
The 2001 census will update the country’s statistical maps and be an essential tool in providing the necessary data and information for the formulation and implementation of poverty reduction policies, strategies, plans and programs.
A component of the program will finance guides and translators to gather more reliable information from each of the country’s ethnic groups.
Supervisors, editors, and questioners will be trained, and the data will be stored and distributed electronically, with data transferred to central and municipal governments.
The total cost of the program is $8.2 million. Parallel financing is being provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the government of Japan, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other donors.
The IDB loan from the Fund for Special Operations is for a 40-year term, with a 10-year grace period, at an interest rate of 1 percent during the grace period and 2 percent thereafter.
In previous operations, the Bank has helped finance the national censuses of Bolivia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru and Paraguay.