Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) supports efforts by Latin America and the Caribbean countries to reduce poverty and inequality. They aim to bring about development in a sustainable, climate-friendly way.

Established in 1959, they are the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean, with a strong commitment to achieve measurable results, increased integrity, transparency and accountability. They have an evolving reform agenda that seeks to increase their development impact in the region.

While they are a regular bank in many ways, they are also unique in some key respects. Besides loans, they also provide grants, technical assistance and do research. Their shareholders are 48 member countries, including 26 Latin American and Caribbean borrowing members, who have a majority ownership of the IDB.

Their Fund for Special Operations (FSO) provides concessional financing to their most vulnerable member countries.

Given their shareholder base and prudent management, they have a strong financial position. As a result, the IDB is able to borrow in international markets at competitive rates and transfer that benefit to their clients.

WHAT THEY DO

Partnering with clients, the IDB seeks to eliminate poverty and inequality, and promotes sustainable economic growth.

The Bank supports clients in the design of projects, and provides financing, technical assistance and knowledge services to support development interventions. The IDB focuses on empirical evidence for making decisions and measuring the impact of this projects to increase its development effectiveness.

Clients

The IDB lends to national, provincial, state and municipal governments as well as autonomous public institutions. Civil society organizations and private sector companies are also elegible for IDB financing.

Objectives, Goals and Sector Priorities

In the Ninth General Capital Increase, the Board of Governors mandates the Bank to pursue two overarching objectives: reducing poverty and inequality and achieving sustainable growth. Alongside these objectives are two strategic goals: addressing the special needs of the less developed and smaller countries and fostering development through the private sector.

To achieve the Bank’s objectives, the Report on the Ninth General Increase in the Resources of the Inter-American Development Bank, identifies five sector priorities:

• social policy for equity and productivity;
• infrastructure for competitiveness and social welfare;
• institutions for growth and social welfare;
• competitive regional and global international integration; and
• protection of the environment, response to climate change, promotion of renewable energy and ensuring food security.