The Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund announced today the approval of a US$1,400,000 technical cooperation grant to Paraguay for a program to strengthen the cooperative sector by improving compliance of the regulatory system.
“The program will help deepen financial services in Paraguay in order to reach an increasing number of customers, particularly in rural areas,” said IDB Team Leader Alejandro Escobar.
“At least 20 cooperatives engaged in financial intermediation activities will attain compliance with the new regulatory and oversight framework,” explained Escobar. “The cooperatives will receive direct technical assistance to strengthen their management skills and ensure that they have the capacity to align their systems with the new regulatory framework.”
The project will be geared toward transferring knowledge to and training the cooperative sector in general by providing information on best practices to comply with new oversight regulations. Around 350,000 customers of cooperatives involved in financial intermediation, mainly low- to middle-income persons, will also enjoy access to more stable and secure financial services.
The Ministry of Finance will be in charge of the project. Local counterpart funds will total US$600,000.
MIF, an autonomous fund administered by the IDB, supports private sector development in Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on microenterprise and small business.