IDB helps to promote local development in the Southern Region of Brazil

The $100 million project will be used to develop investments in labor markets, tourism, health and sanitation.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) recently approved a program to support the resilience of the Southern Region of Brazil in the recovery phase of the COVID-19 health and economic crisis, in a multisectoral manner.

The project will provide credits to municipalities and eligible companies to develop investments in four critical areas against COVID-19: labor market, tourism, health and sanitation, through the financing lines of the Banco Regional do Desenvolvimento do Extremo Sul (BRDE). The investments will respond to eligibility criteria that address the challenges identified in these four areas and the cross-cutting areas of Gender and Diversity and Climate Change.

COVID-19 intensified the challenges and barriers that the Southern Region of Brazil already faced, mainly in terms of financing gaps at the local level, with immediate repercussions on economic activity, the labor market, and the tourism sector. Faced with these challenges, the Banco Regional de Desenvolvimento do Extremo Sul (BRDE) and the IDB identified the need to support the resilience of the Southern Region with financial mechanisms that stimulate liquidity for municipalities and companies through a Global Credit Program with BRDE.

The project hopes to benefit the populations of the municipalities of the three states of the Southern Region of Brazil (which has 29.9 million inhabitants), through projects that promote resilience in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.

The IDB loan of $100 million will be disbursed over a five-year period, with a 25-year repayment term and an interest rate based on LIBOR.