IDB Supports Strengthening Energy Security in Bolivia’s Northern Amazon Region

WASHINGTON – The Board of Executive Directors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a $204.2 million financing package to support energy investments in Bolivia’s Northern Amazon Region (NAB).

The package consists of a Specific Investment Loan (ESP) of $142.2 million, financed with the Bank’s Ordinary Capital resources; and a $60 million loan, together with a $2 million non-reimbursable investment grant, financed through the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), to strengthen energy security in the region.

The IDB-supported program, framed within the Bank’s regional initiative Amazonia Forever, leverages regional energy integration to provide more reliable and lower-cost electricity services for households and businesses in the region by diversifying power generation, modernizing infrastructure, and improving the efficiency of distribution systems.

The program is part of the IDB’s South Connection initiative and includes investments in electricity interconnections with Brazil that will connect the isolated system of the city of Cobija to the distribution system of the Brazilian state of Acre, and the isolated systems of the cities of Guayaramerín and Riberalta to the distribution system of the Brazilian state of Rondônia.

The plan will also finance investments in the three Bolivian cities to improve electricity distribution networks, modernize control systems, implement cybersecurity measures, and introduce smart metering.

To reduce diesel use in isolated systems serving more remote communities, solar photovoltaic generation plants and energy storage systems will be incorporated.

Residents of Riberalta, Guayaramerín, and Cobija, as well as remote communities in the departments of Beni and Pando—representing a combined population of 209,000 people—will directly benefit from the program through more reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity services. The country will also benefit from reduced fiscal expenditures associated with diesel purchases for electricity generation.

The $142.2 million IDB loan has a repayment term of 23.5 years, a 7-year grace period, and an interest rate based on SOFR. The $60 million Clean Technology Fund Parallel Fund loan has a repayment term of 30 years, an 8.5-year grace period, and an interest rate of 1.33%.