Inter-American
Development Bank partners need to bolster the lender’s capital
to help Latin American economies weather the global economic
crisis, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said on Friday.
A top regional leader, IADB last increased its
capitalization in 1995 and the bank expects to lend around $18
billion this year with increasing demand as countries look to
ward off the impact of the worldwide slump.
“It is up to all of us, the Europeans, the Japanese, the
United States, the Latin Americans to make an effort to
increase the capitalization of the IADB… especially in these
difficult times,” Uribe said at a public event.
Uribe was speaking at the IADB’s annual meeting in Medellin
where the bank’s president said he hopes newest member China
will start to play a lead role in securing more financing and
investment to counter the slowdown.
Multilateral lenders are increasing available cash and
easing conditions on borrowing as demand increases. Colombia
this week agreed to a $1.3 billion IADB infrastructure and
stimulus package.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and China Central
Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan will attend the meeting in the
city of Medellin a few days before a key G20 summit of leading
industrialized and developing nations.
The World Bank said on Friday Latin America and the
Caribbean region face zero growth this year and an increasing
probability of contraction as the global crisis batters their
exports, commodity prices and remittances. (Reuters)