Latin American bank releases $746 mi for Rio Grande do Sul
Like the BRICS Bank, the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) also unveiled Tuesday (May 14) a package of measures with the potential to reach $746 million in financial resources to support the reconstruction of Rio Grande do Sul state, in South Brazil. Since the end of April, the state has been hit hard by storms and floods.
“We express our absolute solidarity with the country and make ourselves available to support the immediate relief work for the victims and the reconstruction of the state’s infrastructure, in coordination with the directives of the federal, state, and municipal governments,” CAF President Sergio Díaz-Granados said in a statement.
The bank immediately made available a donation of $250 thousand to support emergency work and $1 million in non-reimbursable cooperation for the Ministry of Planning and Budget, to be used for climate change mitigation measures.
The rest of the amount announced will be distributed as follows:
- $60 million in a line of credit to Brazil’s Far South Development Bank (BRDE), with reduced interest and longer terms, for rebuilding housing, helping micro and small businesses, improving the environment, and rebuilding infrastructure;
- $75 million that can be contributed to the Climate Reconstruction and Resilience Program, through a loan to the federal government, to finance priority government works;
- a sovereign loan of up to $80 million for Porto Alegre, through the Social Innovation for Territorial Transformation Program, approved by the Foreign Financing Commission, a body of the Ministry of Planning and Budget, in September 2023;
- a line of credit to the BNDES for up to $500 million approved in 2023 and under formalization, subject to demand by the BNDES;
- and a credit line of up to $30 million to be sent through the Badesul development agency, a body of the state’s Economic Development Secretariat.
