CAF Grants USD 50 Million Loan to Bolivia to Address COVID-19 Emergency

In response to the healthcare emergency caused by COVID-19, CAF—development bank of Latin America—granted a $50 million loan to Bolivia. The funds will go to strengthen responsiveness of the country’s healthcare system by purchasing protective equipment for healthcare personnel, hiring specialist physicians and nurses for patient care, training staff in pandemic management, and purchasing supplies and equipment for different levels of care.

In addition to the USD 50 million, CAF donated in March USD 400,000 through non-reimbursable technical cooperation funds, aimed at supporting the national contingency plan for preparation and response to this virus.

“Protecting the lives of all Bolivians is a priority, and thus, we swiftly provided non-reimbursable funds and a line of credit to support the efforts of Bolivian government authorities in their work on strengthening patient care capacity and curbing the spread of this viral threat,” said CAF executive president Luis Carranza Ugarte.

The funds will be implemented by the Ministry of Health, supervised by the Ministry of Planning, and will be aimed mainly at supporting the national healthcare system and strengthening its responsiveness.

To cope with the effects of the pandemic in Latin America, CAF offered in early March a regional credit line of USD 50 million per country to address the health emergency, non-reimbursable funds for USD 400,000 per country, and a USD 2.5 billion regional emergency credit line to bolster countercyclical economic measures.