 | | | (l-r) Peter Voicke, IFC Executive Vice President, German Vegarra, Investment Officer, IFC and Jorge Bueso Arias, President of the Board of Directors, El Grupo Granjas Marinas | | |  | | | A leading Salvadoran Bank where IFC has provided $25 million for onlending to SMEs | | |  | | | Hanna Woicke with the World Bank´s Mario Zelaya touring damaged areas in Tegucigalpa | | |  | | | While in Tegucigalpa, Hanna Woicke toured the areas damaged by the hurricane and visited related projects such as the World Bank-supported Bailey Bridge and San Felipe Hospital, where the Bank is running a nutrition program | |
| When Hurricane Mitch hit Central America last November with unexpected force, the tropical storm wiped out $800 million in export revenues from Honduras's vital agricultural sector, which accounts for more than half of the country's exports. The Honduran shrimp industry, the country's largest private employer, suffered $50 million in losses with one major firm alone losing 1.3 million pounds of shrimp in the hurricane. Today, though, that firm—Grupo Granjas Marinas—is on its way back to recovery thanks in part to a $6 million loan from the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) signed last week. The funding aims to help the shrimp producer strengthen its finances, expand its growing ponds, and build new hatchery freezing and wastewater facilities at the group's processing plant. "This funding will help revive Honduras' agricultural export base and boost both economic well-being and morale by re-employing 1,000 people and creating another 100 jobs in Choluteca, an area badly affected by the hurricane," IFC Executive Vice President Peter Woicke said last week at the loan signing in Tegucigalpa. "This investment signals that the private sector can help, alongside donors and multilaterals, in the regional recovery of Central America. The IFC sees a lot of potential for development for the private sector in Central America in light of recent economic reforms and political stability." The new funding for Grupo Granjas Marinas was just one part of Woicke's four-day trip to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, where he met with presidents and other government officials, IFC clients, and private sector representatives in an effort to promote private sector development in the region. In Honduras, Woicke also announced that IFC has set up a dedicated technical assistance trust fund to provide additional support to SMEs in countries affected by Hurricane Mitch. The IFC is also working on other investments to help otherwise sound companies that need help to recover from the hurricane. During his trip, Woicke focused on four themes: developing the region's financial markets; providing access to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), supporting the integration of regional infrastructure and region-wide investments, and providing support for competitive, export-oriented sectors. While in Guatemala, Woicke met with President Arzu and both leaders expressed their support for helping SMEs as an effective means of lifting people out of poverty. Guatemala has received the most financing in the region, with close to $100 million of IFC investments. In Guatemala, IFC is also helping to involve the private sector in infrastructure investments, where the entity has supported numerous projects, mainly in power, where the country has played an important role as one of the leaders in privatization of power generation in the region. In an interview with the press, Woicke noted the great potential in Guatemala. Woicke advised that the country should strengthen its financial and judicial system and focus on developing where Guatemala has competitive advantage, such as in tourism. He pointed out that the integration of companies without access to financial markets has been a worry for IFC, noting that SMEs have constituted a basis for growth in other countries and Guatemala should not be an exception. In El Salvador, Woicke said he was impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit of the Salvadoreans and noted that the SMEs are key to the country's development. The IFC recently provided a $25 million loan to Banco Cuscatlan, a leading Salvadorean bank, for on-lending to SMEs. During a meeting with the press, he said that IFC is interested in assigning resources to increase the funds for SMEs. In Costa Rica, Woicke met with President Rodriguez where he discussed the possibility of greater involvement of IFC in privatization of services. During the visit, Woicke expressed potential for IFC to work more closely with the private sector on health and education projects. IFC is exploring opportunities in private education, possibly in partnership with a leading technical university. Helpful links: To learn more about the IFC, click here.
For more on the investment in Honduras's Grupo Granjas Marinas SA de CV, click here. |
RSS