new idb money

Jasper · #1 11-05-2003, 06:50 PM

IDB, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC SIGN $9.4 MILLION LOAN TO INCREASE COMPETITIVENESS AND ENHANCE BUSINESS CLIMATE
Program will promote business clusters, new policies and strategies
The secretary of Industry and Commerce for the Dominican Republic, Sonia Guzmán, and Inter-American Development Bank President Enrique Iglesias today signed documents for a $9.4 million loan to support strategies and policies to increase business competitiveness.

The resources will finance projects, studies and technical assistance that will result in new policies to promote competitiveness guided by a joint public and private sector dialogue through the country's National Competitiveness Council.

Among the activities will be the design and start-up of 15 to 20 business clusters, which will result in greater competitiveness because of efficiencies in scale, marketing and proximity.

Investments will also be made in specialized technical assistance that will focus on environmental and social issues that both enhance competitiveness and reflect corporate social responsibility.

A competitiveness fund will be established to finance measures, on a matching grant basis, that will increase or diversify exports of goods and services by enhancing the business climate and improving the competitiveness of business clusters.

An evaluation mechanism in the program will monitor its results and lessons learned, identifying the most effective overall policy tools and company-level activities that will increase competitiveness.

The program will be carried out by the Secretaría de Estado de Industria y Commercio, with $3.05 million in local counterpart funds to be provided by the public sector and a further $1.05 million to be provided by the private sector.

adrianb · #2 11-05-2003, 07:39 PM

$9.4M? Gee thanks. Maybe we'll get power for an extra afternoon in Santiago.

Porfio_Rubirosa · #3 11-05-2003, 11:48 PM

Do you know what "InterAmerican Development Bank" means? It means that 75% of the money is earmarked to be spent on projects with politically connected US companies. 25% is permitted to be siphoned off by the DR government/intermediaries to steal or use to buy reelection.

The good news is that, of the 75% that goes to the US companies, maybe 50% will go towards the reasonable cost of projects that will actually be started and maybe even finished. (The extra 25% is for cost inflation on the US side.)

If you're American, these are your tax dollars at work (still better than my Dominican tax dollars not at all at work).

Jasper · #4 11-08-2003, 05:56 PM

see www.iadb.org

Member Countries

The Bank is owned by its 46 member countries: 26 borrowing member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 20 nonborrowing countries, including the United States, Japan, Canada, 16 European countries, and Israel.

Member Countries: Argentina Austria Bahamas Barbados Belgium Belize Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Finland France Germany Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Mexico Netherlands Nicaragua Norway Panama Paraguay Peru Portugal Slovenia Spain Suriname Sweden Switzerland Trinidad and Tobago United Kingdom United States Uruguay Venezuela

Porfio_Rubirosa · #5 11-08-2003, 07:37 PM

Sorry Jasper, I confused the IADB for the EXIM Bank. My posting better applies to the EXIM Bank, which also sends money to the DR.

But, still, tell us, of all of those countries that you listed, which ONE has veto power over any actions? Which ONE has by far the greatest financial interest? It's still US tax dollars at, ehem, work.

Jasper · #6 11-09-2003, 01:47 PM

If Ex-Im Bank is anything like our Export Development Corporation here in Canada, then it is a huge success. If it were not for the EDC, most Canadian exporters would not export to less developed regions for fear of not being paid. It has an incredible trickle down effect to airlines and ss-lines with more revenue for transport, to more Customs revenue on the destination side to jobs here at home.

I don't know much about Ex-Im bank, but I would think it's just a governmental vehicle to insure against payables so I really don't see how corrupt govt officials in destination countries could take advantage of the programs of either agency.

I am a little tired of all the IMF, IDB bashing that I see on the internet. I know little about the IMF and how it supposedly cripples economies, but I can tell you that if the IDB loan guarantee and financing to Aerodom goes through, the malaise in the province of Samana will quickly come to an end once we have our airport. To read more about the malaise, go to today's HOY article on it. As far as I am concerned, the IMF is an agency that has to do the dirty work of the local politicians who don't have the political will to clean up their houses i.e. Hippo and his huge bureaucracy. However, if one can show me clear facts of how the IMF has time and again ruined an economy, I would love to read about it.

Ex-Im Bank:

Mission

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) is the official export credit agency of the United States. Ex-Im Bank's mission is to assist in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets.

Ex-Im Bank enables U.S. companies — large and small — to turn export opportunities into real sales that help to maintain and create U.S. jobs and contribute to a stronger national economy.

Ex-Im Bank does not compete with private sector lenders but provides export financing products that fill gaps in trade financing. We assume credit and country risks that the private sector is unable or unwilling to accept. We also help to level the playing field for U.S. exporters by matching the financing that other governments provide to their exporters.

Ex-Im Bank provides working capital guarantees (pre-export financing); export credit insurance (post-export financing); and loan guarantees and direct loans (buyer financing). No transaction is too large or too small. On average, 85% of our transactions directly benefit U.S. small businesses.

With nearly 70 years of experience, Ex-Im Bank has supported more than $400 billion of U.S. exports, primarily to developing markets worldwide

Porfio_Rubirosa · #7 11-09-2003, 07:56 PM

Jasper,

Yes, you do need to learn about the true nature of the IMF/World Bank and IADB. And, suprise, you won't learn the truth by visiting their websites. You Canadians are so trusting. I'm glad that you are interested in learning more.

Interesting that you call it "bashing" when people expose the IMF. I honestly did not know that many people were defending it anymore. As you will see in the below articles, not even the people in the IMF think it has worked very well:

IMF harms the development of developing countries by supporting corrupt political classes:

http://www.scu.edu/csi/Transcripts_...ish_the_IMF.pdf

US banks, investment houses and irresponsible third world governments against allowing national bankruptcies:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002...3283388008.html

If national bankruptcy makes sense, the bloated IMF has a conflict of interest and should not be the bankruptcy trustee:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/busi...,805303,00.html

As for the Samana Airport, you will not hear me complaining about foreign money that is earmarked for infractructure projects provided the money is dolled out in the form of progress payments for actual work completed and has strings attached. I don't even care that much if the beneficiaries are politically connected and large percentages are skimmed off as long as the projects get done.

The problem with IMF and some IADB money is that it is simply handed to corrupt governments for them to steal or use to buy reelection without any serious earmarking, required progress payments or strings attached. In this way, the IMF is counterproductive to democracy - the US and Canada essentially pay for the reelection of the crooks.

What I wrote about the EXIM bank stands and is not contradicted by anything you wrote or cited.

mondongo · #8 11-09-2003, 08:16 PM

Jasper....Eximbank works pretty much the way Porfio outlined in his previous post. Since you have already professed ignorance (not used pejoratively) on Eximbank, I suggest you go learn about it before arguing any more.

Eximank loans usually that the recepient of the loan turn around and give a susbstantial part of the loan right back to the lender. This is a fact. This is not idle speculation. This is a fact. What Porfio said is a fact. This is not someone waxing philanthropic....or someone wishing that "things" were as they are purported to be. This is stone-cold reality.

Capitalist countires like the USA do not just "give" money away. Capitalists especially disdain countries like the DR: who cant seem to get their act together and always seem to look for handouts.

Lets get it through our collective thick heads: the USA/CAN/UK et al are not the 3rd world's sugar daddies. The USA DOES NOT GIVE money for free. Stop believing in the tooth fairy. They give money to the DR because they WANT something from the DR.

I cant belive that grown, intelligent people STILL do not uderstand.

Jasper · #9 11-09-2003, 10:24 PM

porfio, i tried all 3 links and got 3 different server errors. please check them out yourself. i'd like to read them and learn.

Jasper · #10 11-09-2003, 10:48 PM

mondongo, your comment "Eximank loans...usually the recepient of the loan turn around and give a susbstantial part of the loan right back to the lender".

well, jeez, isn't that what a loan is? you have to pay it back. what i see from the Ex-Im website, which i guess i shouldn't trust because i am just a gullible canuck, is that there are two types of programs: an exporter in the usa wants to export widgets to a country like the DR. the importer in the DR can apply for a direct loan facilitated through one on the several affiliated banks in the usa - such as Wells Fargo, or the exporter himself can get payables insurance. fill me in....how is the DR government involved in this at all?

Porfio, as far as the Aerodom loan guarantee from the IADB, it's a loan guarantee to a private company through banks and bonding companies. again, how would the government be involved in this? they are not a partner in the consortium. sure there are lots of iadb bank loans and/or guarantees direct to governments and surely alot of that money will be siphoned off to corrupt government officials, but i think the program has alot of merit when properly utilized.

as far as being too trusting...i would rather be so then just give a knee-jerk reaction. you go to the poor people without jobs who can't feed their families and you tell them that you have a better solution. i'd love to hear what it is. any solution will exact a pound of flesh. the key is how to properly manage the solution; and that is what the country lacks - leadership. the greed starts at the top.