Barbados is among the group of countries to benefit from a new partnership between the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the bank’s private sector arm, IDB Invest, and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund).
Last week these institutions announced a new collaboration framework, which they say “will enable the institutions to explore joint co-financing opportunities in key sectors for Latin America and the Caribbean including infrastructure, renewable energy, transportation, resilience and mitigation, social infrastructure, sustainable agriculture, and biodiversity preservation”.
A related memorandum of understanding (MOU) they signed last Thursday “allows IDB and the OPEC Fund to pursue new cofinancing of sovereign and non-sovereign guaranteed operations, as well as mechanisms to provide technical assistance across the region”.
The MOU “outlines collaboration
between the IDB and the OPEC Fund for the early identification of co-financing and parallel financing opportunities for development projects, with a focus on maximising impact in key sectors”.
Officials said that in this regard “the IDB and the OPEC Fund are already exploring co-financing opportunities in Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Mexico, and Uruguay for the period between 2025 and 2027”.
The IDB, IDB Invest, and OPEC Fund will establish a technical assistance facility to support both public and private sector operations.
For the public sector, this includes project preparation and support in priority sectors. For the private sector, it involves the joint delivery of advisory services to clients. ( SC/PR)
