|
Washington, D.C., May 20, 2009—
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced today that Banco de Crédito de Bolivia has joined the IFC Global Trade Finance Program, which will allow it to help the country’s importers and exporters expand their access to finance and address the impact of the global financial crisis.
Banco de Credito has successfully concluded the first transactions under IFC Global Trade Finance Program to support export and import finance for a total of $6.2 million. Banco de Credito is the second Bolivian issuing bank to join the program, which promotes trade with emerging markets worldwide by supporting flows of goods and services to and from developing countries. IFC provides guarantees that help banks to mitigate risks in emerging markets, allowing recipients to expand their trade-finance transactions within an extensive network of countries and banks.
Diego Cavero, Banco de Crédito´s CEO,
said: “We are delighted to be a part of the IFC Global Trade Finance Program. This new partnership will help increase our capacity to provide trade finance funding and services to our import and export clients.”
Enrique Canas, IFC’s Country Manager said: “Banco de Crédito’s entry as the second Bolivian bank in the program will enhance and encourage trade operations in the country. This is part of IFC’s strategy in the region to encourage greater economic development in the Andean region”.
Under the Global Trade Finance Program, IFC has issued $1.25 billion in guarantees to facilitate trade flows in Latin America and the Caribbean. The network of issuing banks for the region has expanded to 37 banks in 15 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, St. Lucia, Uruguay, and Honduras.
More than 40 percent of the guarantees issued benefited local small and midsize businesses and supported interregional trade flows between emerging market nations. For more information about the program, contact Antonio Alves, Head of Trade Finance for Latin America and the Caribbean Region, at
aalves1@ifc.org
, or visit
www.ifc.org/gtfp
.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $16.2 billion in fiscal 2008, a 34 percent increase over the previous year. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
About Banco de Crédito
Banco de Crédito BCP started its business operations in the Bolivian market in 1994 after merging with Banco Popular del Perú. In the past few years, the bank has become one of the strongest financial institutions, offering a wide range of products and services to all segments of the Bolivian economy. It has achieved recognition from several international financial publications as the best bank in the country. Banco de Crédito BCP is a part of Credicorp, which is one of the leading financial services holding companies of Latin America. For more information, visit
www.bancodecredito.com.bo
.
|
