The following operations were approved in recent weeks by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF).
Argentina
A $1 million MIF grant to establish a national network of commercial mediation and arbitration centers and to build up their institutional capacity.
Bolivia
A $34 million loan from the Fund for Special Operations to strengthen agricultural technology and plant and animal health.
An $840,000 MIF grant to consolidate insurance market operations and to strengthen the Office of Insurance Oversight.
A $5 million loan from the Fund for Special Operations to support the reform and modernization of the Customs Administration.
Brazil
A $1,534,000 MIF grant for a trade union leadership program to be carried out by the Depar-tamento Intersindical de Esta-dísticas e Estudos Sócio-Econômicos.
Chile
A $7 million IIC loan and $1 million IIC investment in Delta Leasing Habitacional, S.A., to finance the purchase of low-cost housing and to develop lease-backed securities, a new financial instrument for the country.
Colombia
A $1.5 million grant from the Japanese Trust Fund for Consultancy for prefeasibility studies for geothermal electricity development
Costa Rica
A $4.2 million IIC loan to Consorcio Celsa Dimmsa Telepsa Limitada to expand telephone service by installing and maintaining 15,000 public telephone booths and leasing them for six years to the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, the national telephone and electric company.
El Salvador
An $850,000 MIF grant to support the introduction of mechanisms to facilitate and promote the development of microenterprises and small businesses.
Honduras
A $7.5 million IIC loan to Zona Industrial de Exportación Buena Vista, S.A., to expand facilities and improve environmental conditions in an industrial park in the town of Villanueva.
A $4 million IIC loan to Banco Financiera Centroamericana, S.A., to provide financing for small and medium-size enterprises.
Nicaragua
A $9 million loan from the Fund for Special Operations to support the first phase of a $32.2 million program to provide a social safety net to the country’s poor.
Regional
A $15 million IIC purchase of operating lease receivables from El Camino Resources de América Latina, Inc., to support small and medium-size companies seeking to modernize and expand in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
A $1,400,000 MIF grant to support job training programs for the blind in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile.