The Diplomat
The Official Credit Institute (ICO), as financial agent of the Fund for the Promotion of Development (FONPRODE), has recently signed a $15 million (€14.5 million) loan to Banco Azul de El Salvador to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in all productive sectors in the Central American country and to finance the development of clean energy and women-led projects.
The operation, which was approved by the Spanish Council of Ministers on December 28, 2021, is aimed at financing the strategy of Banco Azul, an entity whose social objective is to contribute to the country’s development through the provision of financial services and personalized attention. Banco Azul’s 2021-2023 Strategic Plan focuses on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), its Solar Energy Program, and the Transversal Program for Women Entrepreneurs.
Within this framework, the loan will support small and medium-size enterprises in all productive sectors and finance projects that develop clean energy in El Salvador. Banco Azul will also give priority to projects led by women entrepreneurs in order to contribute to and increase their economic empowerment.
The signing of this agreement was attended by Carlos de la Morena Casado, Spanish Ambassador in the Central American country; Fernando Rey Yébenes, General Coordinator of Spanish Cooperation at the Spanish Embassy; Miguel Ángel García Aldea, Minister Counselor of the Spanish Embassy; and Banco Azul authorities.
FONPRODE is a financial instrument of the Spanish Cooperation, administered by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and created in 2011 with the purpose of financing operations of a non-reimbursable and reimbursable nature, both debt and equity, to ensure the capacity to respond to the needs and objectives set by the Spanish development cooperation policy. For its part, Banco Azul is a regulated entity supervised by the Superintendencia del Sistema Financiero de El Salvador and has more than US$900 million in assets, a loan portfolio of more than US$600 million and a deposit portfolio of US$700 million.
