European Investment Bank to Grant $47 Million to the Dominican Republic

European Investment Bank to Grant $47 Million to the Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo,11/06/2010

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will grant the Dominican Republic $47 million dollars in financing, the major portion of a larger disbursement of $135 million dollars to be disbursed to countries in the Caribbean region.

“because it is going to contribute to connecting and guaranteeing electricity to remote areas which have not previously been connected to a grid, thus providing electricity to poor homes in Dominican territory.”

This information was provided by the Vice President of the European Investment Bank, Plutarco Sakellaris, who said “this demonstrates the very vital and active economy in the country which is very important for the operations of this banking institution,” according to the Presidential Office of Information, Press and Publicity.

The European Investment Bank executive explained the details at a press conference in the National Palace. “This year our financing will reach $47 million US dollars, part of a grand total of $135 million dollars which is our investment for the Caribbean region. As such, the amount for the Dominican Republic is the largest proportion of the total amount thus demonstrating to us that the DR has a vital and very active economy which is very important for us at the European Investment Bank,” said Mr. Sakellaris.

In his conversations with the country’s public as well as private sector, Sakellaris explained that they are exploring ways to increase available financing from the EIB. Sakellaris’s mission in the DR is to explore new avenues and collaboration possibilities between the Dominican Republic and the European Investment Bank.

To that end, the European banking executive met with the Ministers of Finance and Economy, Planning and Development. He also said he was intending to meet with President Leonel Fernández, to whom he will give details on how the EIB can work toward supporting investments in the DR. “But more importantly, to listen to these ministers to understand how they see how our collaboration can be useful to the Dominican Republic.”

Sakellaris referred to the agreement signed on Monday in the Ministry of Finance, with the Electric Transmission Company for $37 million dollars to support an electricity transmission project. He also signed another agreement with the Savings and Credit Bank (ADEMI in Spanish) for more than $10 million dollars in micro-financing.

Plutarco Sakellaris affirmed the importance of financing of the electricity transmission, both for the EIB and the Dominican Republic “because it is going to contribute to connecting and guaranteeing electricity to remote areas which have not previously been connected to a grid, thus providing electricity to poor homes in Dominican territory.”

He also indicated that in the future this project will allow for connectivity to renewable sources of wind power when they are available on a national grid.

Likewise, he reiterated the willingness of the European Investment Bank to help the Dominican government with its goal of combating climate change.
He also showed an interest in investing in the private sector, whom he’ll visit this week, as well as public and private alliances within the development plan.

Others present at the press conference included the Chief of Delegation of the European Union in the DR and the Director General of Multilateral Cooperation (DIGECOOM), Domingo Jiménez.