US$200 million for social investment in Colombia

The CAF president, Enrique García, and the Colombian minister of Finance, Juan Manuel Santos, today signed a multi-sectoral loan for US$200 million for partial financing of the 2002 Investment Project of the national government. The signing took place in the Casa de Nariño presidential palace in the presence of President Andrés Pastrana.

García said the new loan, which is part of the Corporation’s ongoing support for Colombia, guarantees execution of a set of infrastructure and social investment projects geared to promoting sustainable growth, creating jobs and combating poverty. Colombia is currently the largest beneficiary of loans from this multilateral organization, which approved a total of US$819 million for the country last year.

The new operation is similar to others that satisfactorily covered the first three years of the 1998-2002 Investment Plan in sectors such as potable water and sanitation, transport, community development, agroindustry and environment.

The new lending operation, with a ten-year term and two-year grace period, is to be executed by the ministry of Finance and Public Credit through sectoral agencies. The funds will finance priority projects in the sectors of transport (60.2%), potable water and basic sanitation (9.5%), agricultural development (18.7%) and health (11.7%).

The beneficiaries of these projects are located in strategic rural and urban areas of Colombia, characterized by their vulnerability. The government has focused its actions on these areas in an attempt not only to provide physical infrastructure works but also to eliminate factors that generate violence and social breakdown.