The Multilateral Investment Fund has approved four grants totaling more than $3 million to support private sector development in Uruguay, Guatemala, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago.
In Uruguay, a MIF grant of $1.3 million will help finance a project to modernize the procurement system and reduce the cost of regulations and procedures. Titled "Program to Reduce State Costs on Private Activity," the project will be carried out over a three-year period at a total cost of $2.4 million. It is designed to reduce the cost of regulations and procedures and will improve access to central government services by rationalizing key processes and implementing a single window for businesses.
In Peru, a grant of $190,000 will help fund a project to support the institutional strengthening of Confianza, a financial development institution that serves microenterprise and small businesses. The project’s goal is to improve Confianza’s financial and operational management capacity so that it can increase the volume and improve the quality of financial services. Such services are greatly needed, as currently in Peru there are more than three million microenterprises and small businesses, employing almost three-fourths of the country’s economically active population. Commercial banks offer very few financial services to this sector.
In Guatemala, a grant of $560,000 will help implement quality management systems in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the construction sector. The project’s goal is to improve the business performance and competitiveness of at least 50 SMEs. One component of the project is to develop the capacity of professionals trained in implementing quality management systems such as the international standards ISO 9000, with emphasis on the needs of the construction industry.
In Trinidad and Tobago, a grant of $990,000 will help finance a project in the telecommunications sector that will support the establishment of an independent regulatory agency, the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, and help strengthen the Telecommunications Policy Unit of the Prime Minister’s Office. The project will also train private and public sector personnel in telecommunications policy.
The Multilateral Investment Fund, an autonomous fund administered by the Inter-American Development Bank, provides grants and investments to promote private sector growth, labor force training and small enterprise modernization in Latin America and the Caribbean.