The Inter-American Development Bank hailed Nicaragua's achievement of reaching the completion point of the enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).
The decision taken recently by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank grants Nicaragua full benefits under this debt relief initiative.
As a leading source of multilateral financing, the IDB has provided Nicaragua $96 million in interim debt relief to since December 2001. Over the 2001-2019 period, IDB debt relief would total nearly $720 million, in nominal terms.
The IDB has supported Nicaragua’s efforts to reach various HIPC goals, particularly in developing a social security system for the most vulnerable groups of its population, improving the efficiency of the general comptroller’s office and the justice administration system and increasing transparency in government procurement.
Over the past two years the IDB has approved nearly $205 million in soft financing for Nicaragua, including several loans to support the implementation of social programs within its national poverty reduction strategy, one of the key elements in HIPC.