- The amount of the credit amounts to 300 million dollars and its objective is to promote business development between Spain and Latin America and promote the internationalization of companies.
- It may be used for financing operations and / or for the granting of guarantees required of companies within international bidding processes.
CAF – development bank of Latin America– and the Official Credit Institute (ICO) today signed the granting of a loan for 300 million dollars, destined to the financing and granting of guarantees to Spanish and Latin American companies.
The objective of this operation is to extend support to Spanish companies that are in the process of expanding their business in Latin America, as well as to Latin American companies that wish to increase their operations in Spain. This agreement is part of the program announced by CAF's executive president, Enrique García, at the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, held in Cádiz last November.
The ICO will apply the funds to both direct operations and operations of mediation lines of the Institute, which are formalized by the companies through the Spanish financial entities.
The loans will have a maximum amount of 20 million dollars per company and Spanish or Latin American companies may be clients with projects that are developed in Latin America, CAF's geographical area of activity.
Of the total amount, 200 million will go to loan operations. With the granting of loans, Spanish and Latin American companies are allowed to finance their exports or imports, or undertake investment projects abroad. With the granting of short, medium and long-term loans and in dollars, one of the main demands of the sector is covered, which requires financing with long terms and in the dollar currency, which in many cases, companies find it of difficult access.
The remaining 100 million will be used to grant guarantees, thus allowing companies to participate in international bidding processes, and to have the guarantees required in these processes to present their offers or sign the awarded contracts.
With this collaboration between ICO and CAF, the catalog of products of the ICO is expanded to promote the internationalization of companies, in a clear commitment of ICO for the specialization and concentration of its credit in internationalization.
This operation demonstrates the confidence that international organizations have in the Spanish economy, as ICO is a public bank with the guarantee of the Spanish State.
CAF's mission is to promote sustainable development and regional integration, through the financing of public and private sector projects, the provision of technical cooperation and other specialized services. Established in 1970 and currently conformed by 18 countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Spain, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay) and 14 private banks in the region, is one of the main sources of multilateral financing and an important knowledge generator for the region. More information in www.caf.com.
