IDB Approves $100 Million USD Loan for Post-Conflict Sustainability in Colombia

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) today approved a $100 million USD assistance loan to help Colombia improve the nation’s environmental and socioeconomic sustainability. The loan is for a 13.5-year term “with a 13.5-year grace period and a LIBOR-based interest rate,” according to the IDB.

The funding is intended to benefit some 170 municipalities in need of development now that the government has formalized a peace agreement to end more than a half-century of conflict with the nation’s largest ex-guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The IDB highlights the fact that, over 13 years, between 1990 and 2003, around three million hectares of forest were lost in Colombia. Soil degradation also marred roughly 1.5 million hectares, “badly hurting agricultural production and consequently socioeconomic development in the localities involved.”

The loan, cataloged officially as “CO-L1166: Sustainable Colombia Program,” is intended to help finance the restoration and protection of these environments while at the same time boosting the income for the rural population and the “technical capabilities” of the government to serve the needs of these areas.

Photo credit: Jared Wade