Colombia Receives $400 Million USD Credit Line From The Central American Bank for Economic Integration

Colombia’s Minister of Finance, Mauricio Cardenas, revealed Thursday that Colombia will have access to a credit line of US $ 400 million with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE for its initials in Spanish). Colombia has been a non-regional member of the BCIE since 1996.

“The bank will start lending to countries that are not founding members. Colombia will be able to access a credit line of US $ 400 million; half of which can be used for bilateral projects with member countries, and the other half can be used, for example, to finance the 4G [highway construction] program” said Cardenas.

The 55th meeting of the Board of Governors of BCIE took place last week in Medellin, Antioquia. The annual meeting is held in order to discuss the challenges facing the economies of the region, as well as to decide about possible new BCIE investments and regulations for the admission of non-founding regional and non-regional members.

BCIE is currently the main provider of development-oriented financial resources to Central American countries. Its new 2015-2019 institutional strategy “Integrating Sustainable Development and Competitiveness” includes the channeling of US$8.77 billion for this period to address needs in social development, competitiveness and regional integration.