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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, CMC—Ignacio Coronazole Hughes, a senior official of the Latin American and Caribbean Development Bank (CAF), says the bank intends to play a greater role in the socio-economic development of the Caribbean and is moving to expand its presence in the region.
CAF is a development bank owned by 19 countries, including 17 in Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal, as well as 13 private banks in the region. Its headquarters are in Venezuela, and it has offices in Buenos Aires, La Paz, Brasilia, Bogota, Quito, Madrid, Mexico D.F., Panama City, Asuncion, Lima, Montevideo, and Port of Spain.
CAF’s Resource Mobilization and Global Alliance manager, Ignacio Corlazzoli Hughes, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that CAF recently changed its name to include Latin America and the Caribbean Development Bank.
“We just did that in April when three countries from the Caribbean joined the bank. So now we have six countries. We had Trinidad and Tobago, who joined us 30 years ago, along with Jamaica. We had Barbados who joined later on, and a couple of months ago, we had The Bahamas, Dominica, and Grenada who just joined the bank,” he said, noting that CAF’s president, Sergio Díaz-Granados, an attorney from Colombia, who has this comprehensive Caribbean perspective. Watch video
“And while we are expanding the bank’s mandate to become the region’s blue and green development bank, we are also expanding our geographic scope. And President Diaz-Granados is planning to transform CAF into the bank that has the most active member countries, and we are expanding and reaching out to many more Caribbean countries,” said Corlazzoli Hughes, who is here attending the 50th anniversary of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).
We hope that very shortly, by the following year, we will become the bank with the most countries in the region.
Corlazzoli Hughes believes that while CAF is unlike other banks in the region, with a significant majority of its capital coming from within the region, he is aware of the challenges and opportunities for developmental finance in the Caribbean region.
“… we don’t have a difference between borrowing and non-borrowing member countries. So, 95 percent of the capital is from the region. We have Portugal and Spain with five percent, but we are a bank that can allow borrowing to every member country. That’s very important.
“So within our structure, the way our board is conceived, our board of ministers, we don’t have a sitting board, unlike other banks. How we think about it is that we are very close to our clients.”
He said, given the CAF president’s mandate that the financial institution be an infrastructure bank moving towards the blue and green bank of the region, “we are actively working on climate change.
“In that sense, we are mandated to … make 30 percent of our approvals in climate change operations. We have to transform our modality, the way we think, the way we approve, operate, and work, precisely to have a bigger, better, and stronger impact on climate change operations in the Caribbean.
“For example, we just finance …the new Bank for Development in Jamaica, the blue and green one. We are actively involved in the Bridgetown Agenda that Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados leads.
“We are seeking what we do, for example, in Trinidad and Tobago in a more sustainable way, on an infrastructure project. We are actively now working in Trinidad thanks to other partners, such as the European Commission…but we are always thinking about the impact and the sustainable impact these have on the citizens.
“What we want to do is to improve their lives, and in this way, trying to be much closer to the Caribbean citizens,” Corlazzoli Hughes said, explaining the efforts towards moving to a blue and green bank.
“So the way we want to work on the blue and green bank…for example, in the Caribbean, you have up to 10 percent of the worldwide coral reef, if I am not mistaken, much of which, unfortunately, is bleaching.
“We are going to be working more on those nature-based solutions, working with the ocean, the blue economy,” Corlazzoli Hughes told CMC.
“We committed a few years ago back …to increase our financing for the blue economy. At the same time, we are working on climate change issues. On climate change discussions, we want to become the region’s voice, the financial voice of the region, especially the Caribbean region.”
Conclusion:
CIF’s efforts to move towards a blue and green bank aim to improve the lives of Caribbean citizens, promote sustainable development, and address climate change. As a major player in the region, CAF will continue to work closely with Caribbean governments, international partners, and other stakeholders to achieve its goals.
FAQs:
* What is CAF and its role in the region?
CAF is a development bank owned by 19 countries, including 17 in Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal, as well as 13 private banks in the region.
* What is the current situation in the Caribbean with regards to debt and the impact of climate change?
Caribbean countries face high debt levels and are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and sea-level rise.
* What is CIF doing to address climate change in the region?
CAF is actively working on climate change, focusing on blue and green bank initiatives, nature-based solutions, and sustainable development to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Note: CAF is the Latin American and Caribbean Development Bank (CAF)
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