The Diplomat
Last Tuesday, the Council of Ministers approved the granting of two loans of 12.2 million euros, from the Fund for the Promotion of Development (FONPRODE), to two Ecuadorian banking entities dedicated to social development.
On the one hand, the government will grant a loan of up to seven million euros to Banco Desarrollo de los Pueblos S.A. (Banco CODESARROLLO) of Ecuador to finance the expansion of the bank’s portfolio.
Banco CODESARROLLO -created in 1970 and since 2014 with its current legal figure- has as its mission to be “a financially sound bank with Christian inspiration and social vision” that supports the sustainable and integral local development of Ecuador’s population in popular, rural and urban areas, through “the provision of quality financial products and services and the strengthening of Popular Finance in the Popular and Solidarity Economy, contributing to reduce poverty, create hope, justice, peace and more humane living conditions”, as reported by the Council of Ministers.
On the other hand, the Government will grant another loan for a maximum amount of 5.2 million euros to Banco VisionFund Ecuador also to finance the expansion of the entity’s portfolio.
Banco VisionFund Ecuador – created in 1995 and since 2016 with its current legal figure – has as its mission “to promote financial inclusion, micro-entrepreneurial development and the improvement of the living conditions of its clients and their families in vulnerable sectors,” by providing efficient and timely financial and non-financial products and services, “with a highly committed work team, based on its Christian values”, the Council of Ministers added.
The V Master Plan for Spanish Cooperation 2018-2021 (V PDCE) states that FONPRODE will pay special attention to interventions in microfinance, remittance banking, small and medium-sized enterprises, social economy, venture capital, infrastructure creation and Public-Private Partnerships for Development. It also attaches great importance to Spanish financial cooperation in middle-income partnership countries, including Ecuador.
Likewise, the Ecuador-Spain Partnership Framework 2019-2022 establishes as one of its development results: to strengthen and promote associationism, alternative marketing circuits, productive chains, inclusive businesses, fair trade and sustainable tourism, prioritizing the Popular and Solidarity Economy to consolidate the country’s productive structure in a redistributive and solidarity-based manner.
In addition, the Council of Ministers approved the granting of two other loans, under FONPRODE, to the Colombian entity Compañía de Financiamiento (Crezcamos S.A.), for a maximum amount of ten million US dollars; and to the Salvadoran entity Sociedad de Ahorro y Crédito Apoyo Integral S.A. (Apoyo Integral), for a maximum amount of ten million US dollars. (Apoyo Integral), for up to US$5 million. Both loans are in line with the Colombia-Spain Country Partnership Framework 2015-2019 and the El Salvador-Spain Development Partnership Framework 2015-2019.
