Inter-American Development Bank

The Inter-American Development Bank in its initials IDB (in English: Inter-American Development Bank) is an international financial organization with headquarters in the city of Washington D.C. (United States), and created in 1959 with the purpose of financing viable economic, social and institutional development projects and promoting regional trade integration in the Latin American and Caribbean area. It is the largest regional development finance institution of its kind, dating back to the Inter-American Conference of 1890.

Flag of the institution.

Its main objective is to reduce poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean and promote sustainable and lasting growth. Currently, the IDB is the largest regional development bank in the world and has served as a model for other similar institutions at the regional and subregional level. Although it was born within the Organization of American States (OAS), it has no relationship with that Pan-American institution, nor with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or with the World Bank. Currently the ordinary capital of the bank amounts to 105,000 million US dollars.

Members

IDB Member Countries. Benefits Non- borrowers

The Bank is headed by a commission of Governors that uses an Executive Board made up of 14 members to supervise the operation of the institution, supported by a management team. The Assembly elects the president for a period of 5 years and the members of the Board of Directors for a period of 3 years. Since 1988, the Uruguayan Enrique V. Iglesias has been president, who resigned in May 2005. Two months later, the Colombian diplomat Luis Alberto Moreno was elected for the period 2005-2010. On July 6, 2010, Luis Alberto Moreno he was re-elected as president of the IDB.

The 48 member countries are classified into two types: non-borrowing members and borrowing members. The non-borrowing members are 22 in total and do not receive any financing but benefit from the IDB's procurement rules, since only member countries can supply goods and services to projects financed by the bank. Non-borrowers are: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom, United States from China, Sweden and Switzerland.

On the other hand, the 26 borrowing members of the IDB jointly hold 50.02% of the voting power on the board of directors and are divided into 2 groups according to the maximum percentage of financing they can receive:

• Group I: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.

• Group II: Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Suriname.

If more than half of the project's net benefits are channeled to low-income citizens, the requesting country may add an additional 10% to the maximum funding percentage, as long as it does not exceed 90% of the total. As a rule, each year the IDB must use more than 40% of its resources in programs that improve social equity in the region.

China joined the Inter-American Development Bank as a donor country, strengthening its growing ties with Latin America and the Caribbean, becoming the 48th member country. The Chinese government pledged to contribute US$350 million for development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Official languages

The Constitutive Agreement of the Inter-American Development Bank, signed in Washington on April 8, 1959 (entered into force on December 30 of the same year, 1959) was written in four languages: Spanish, < b>Portuguese, French and English, whose texts, as stated at the end "are equally authentic".

These four languages are the ones used in the Bank's practice.

Departments

• Executive Auditor (AUG)
• Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC)
• Structured and Corporate Financing Department (SCF)
• Department of Research and Chief Economist (RES)
• Department of Central American, Mexico, Panama and Dominican Republic (CID)
• Department of Caribbean Countries (CCB)
• Department of Southern Cone Countries (CSC)
• Department of Andean Group Countries (CAN)
• Department of Haiti (CDH)
• Department of Budget and Administrative Services (BDA)
• Department of Human Resources (HRD)
• Department of Information Technology (ITE)
• Financial Department (FIN)
• Legal Department (LEG)
• Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF)
• Independent Consultation and Research Mechanism (MICI)
• Office of Strategic Alliances (ORP)
• Evaluation and Monitoring Office (OVE)
• Office of Risk Management (RMG)
• Institutional Integrity Office (OII)
• Office of the President (PRE)
• Office of the Executive Vice-President (EVP)
• Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness Office (SPD)
• External Relations Office (EXR)
• Office of the Vice-President of Finance and Administration (VPF)
• Office of the Vice-President of Countries (VPC)
• Office of the Vice-President of Sectors and Knowledge (VPS)
• Office of the Vice-President of the Private Sector and Non- Sovereignty Operations (PPV)
• Secretariat (SEC)
• Knowledge and Learning Sector (KNL)
• Infrastructure and Environment Sector (INE)
• Development Institutions (IFD) Sector
• Integration and Trade Sector (INT)
• Majority Opportunities Sector (OMJ)
• Social Sector (SCL)

Priority Areas

• Education
• Poverty reduction
• Climate Change and Sustainability

Water and sanitation

There are four programs of the Water and Sanitation Division: Program 100 cities, Water for 3000 rural communities, Defenders of water and Efficient and transparent companies.

The Bank also has a series of special programs: AquaFund, Energy Efficiency and AquaRating.

AquaRating

AquaRating is the first rating agency for the water sector in the world. The agency is a project of the IDB, in collaboration with the International Water Association (IWA). The qualification system has already been tested in thirteen supply companies in nine countries in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. The introduction of AquaRating to the world market is scheduled for 2015.

Relations with Spain

In 2012, the IDB installed a representative office for Europe in Madrid. Spain's trade with Latin America is one of the fastest growing. The new headquarters made it easier for European companies and institutions to access IDB projects, in addition to further strengthening economic relations with Spain, which is the Bank's main trust fund donor.

Joint Financing Framework Agreement

In 2017, the Bank and Spain met in Asunción (Paraguay) to sign a new Joint Financing Framework Agreement. This agreement establishes the general conditions for the joint financing of development projects of the IDB and Spain, with the general objective of facilitating the relationship between these partners in the financing of operations that promote the economic and social development of the borrowing member countries of the IDB.. This agreement builds a broad portfolio of issues such as disaster prevention, regional integration, sustainable energy or climate change. Within the framework of the Agreement, special emphasis will be placed on co-financing efforts in water and sanitation, given Spain's historical participation in this sector in the LAC region. Spain is the most active European partner of the IDB and has contributed more than US$855 million since 2008 to advance the development of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Open Software Repository Sharing

In 2018, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Government of Spain, through its Technology Transfer Center (CTT), established a collaboration in which they agreed to open up their digital tools so that governments and organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe can benefit from the offer of both institutions, adapting and reusing the respective codes to solve development problems and meet the needs of citizens and communities. Every year there is a huge investment in software resources and other digital tools by governments around the world. If these tools were open to sharing and adapted to new uses, governments and organizations could achieve huge savings and economies of scale. With the alliance, both institutions will enhance the scope of the codes available on their platforms.

Opening of sports centers

The IDB began using the popularity of soccer in Latin America as a development project. For this reason, the Bank made several agreements with the Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona to finance sports centers in certain poor neighborhoods in South America. In addition to financial support, the teams donate sports equipment and ensure that the coaches are well trained. This project aims not only to provide entertainment for children, but also to teach them values such as respecting rules, equality or camaraderie.

Timeline of presidents

Dates	Name	Nationality
1960-1970	Felipe Herrera	Chile
1970-1988	Antonio Ortiz Mena	Mexico
1988-2005	Enrique V. Iglesias	Uruguay
2005-2020	Luis Alberto Moreno	Colombia
2020-2022	Mauritius Claver-Carone	United States
2022	Queen Irene Mejía (intern)	Honduras
2022- (current)	Ilan Goldfajn	Brazil

President election in 2022

The Board of Governors of the IDB, following the recommendation of the Board of Executive Directors, ordered the termination of the functions of Mauricio Claver-Carone as President of the Bank as of September 26, 2022. The Executive Vice President, Reina Irene Mejía, she served as interim president until Ilan Goldfajn was elected on November 20, 2022. Goldfajn took office on December 19 of the same year.