Montevideo, Uruguay — The Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), the only multilateral financial institution with the specific mandate of promoting the development of small and medium-sized private-sector enterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean, presented its financial results during the twenty-seventh annual meeting of its Board of Governors. The Governors, who represent the IIC’s forty-four member countries, ratified these results.
As of December 2011, the IIC reported net profits of US$10.3 million and its equity rose to US$778 million. With an equity-to-total-assets ratio of over 52%, the Corporation continues to display considerable institutional robustness.
In 2011, the IIC reached US$1.48 billion in total assets, approving US$464.7 million in investments and direct loans and cofinancing operations totaling US$470.5 million. Even more importantly, it had disbursements of nearly US$1 billion with its own resources and through cofinancing. This resulted in a 16% growth in development assets, which for the first time exceeded US$1 billion. As a result of the prudential management of these assets, at the close of 2011, the ratio of loan loss provisions to past-due loans was 2.8 times and to impaired loans, 4.5 times.
“We have closed the eighth straight year of positive results, demonstrating our ability to meet the challenges of the recent global financial crisis,” said Jacques Rogozinski, general manager of the institution.
The IIC's strategy is to maintain an adequate balance between leverage and liquidity, thereby enabling it to use its excess liquidity to increase its development assets. As of year end 2011, the institution's liquid assets represented one-third of its total assets, meaning that the IIC could pay off roughly 75% of its financial debt without having to tap additional resources.
As a shining corollary, in February 2012, Fitch Ratings gave the IIC an overall rating of AAA with a stable outlook, the perfect link between a year ending full of milestones and a year beginning with excellent prospects. Within this context, the Corporation's Management and Board will continue working together to fulfill the development mandate envisioned by its member countries more than 26 years ago.