Honduras Backs Regional Integration Applying to Join CAF

Honduras expressed its interest in becoming a full member of CAF—development bank of Latin America—, as soon as possible, as announced by President Iris Xiomara Castro in a formal letter issued by Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina.

The Foreign Minister said in the letter delivered to CAF at the UN-Habitat Assembly in New York: “The government of Honduras hereby formally expresses its interest in becoming a member of the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), with a view to securing access to a range of adequate financial tools and instruments to facilitate managing of operations that involve institutional strengthening components, modernization of the state, support for regulatory frameworks for investments, productivity and competitiveness; with transparency and environmental protection as cross-cutting issues.”

With the accession of Honduras to CAF, the country commits to strengthening its regional presence and accessing sources of financing, technical assistance and knowledge generation that are set to improve citizen well-being and boost overall competitiveness. The government and CAF authorities will review the roadmap to be followed in order to help the Central American nation become the twenty-first member of CAF.

“We are very pleased to receive this good news from the government of Honduras, of joining CAF, which will allow us to expand our presence in Central America and thus work together for the protection of our common home and the economic and social recovery of the people. We are committed to the local authorities and other multilateral stakeholders present in Honduras to join and round out efforts that benefit the most vulnerable groups,” said CAF executive president Sergio Díaz-Granados.

Honduras and CAF are working on an agile and efficient process to move forward with the accession, such as that undertaken with El Salvador last March. Noteworthy is that the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica recently became full members as well.

The accession of new shareholders and expansion of the institution’s geographical scope come alongside a record high capital expansion, for a total amount of USD 7 billion. This equity growth, approved by CAF’s shareholder’s meeting, will help CAF double its portfolio by 2030, thus becoming the Economic Recovery Bank and the Green Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean for the next decade.

CAF is a multilateral financial institution whose mission is to foster sustainable development and Latin American integration in its shareholder countries. Its shareholders include: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela and 13 private banks in the region. It serves the public and private sectors, providing multiple products and services to a broad client portfolio, consisting of shareholder states, private companies and financial institutions.