CAF Allocates $2.74 Billion for Energy Transition and Infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) has approved $2.74 billion in loans to support energy transitions, ecological enhancements, and infrastructure upgrades across nine countries. Additionally, CAF signed humanitarian aid agreements for three nations and added Antigua and Barbuda as a member, solidifying its commitment to regional development.

The Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) has allocated $2.74 billion in loans across nine countries in the region to help fuel their energy transition, shore up their ecosystems, and improve infrastructure, it said on Thursday.

The bank also signed humanitarian aid agreements for three nations, six credit deals for Ecuador totaling $483 million, and added the small island developing state of Antigua and Barbuda to its ranks, the CAF said in a statement. "The Board of Directors at Lima was historic," CAF executive president Sergio Diaz-Granados said in a statement.

"All of this is a sign of CAF's commitment to double its portfolio by 2030, something that will allow us to contribute even more to the development plans of our member countries and accelerate regional integration." CAF approved financing projects in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, and Peru.

It also destined humanitarian aid to address damages from a fire at a Honduran hospital, support Ecuador's response to heavy rainfall, and to Barbados to tackle storm damages, it said. The Venezuela-based lender is among the region's top sources of multilateral financing.

The announcement comes early on in the Atlantic hurricane season, which has brought deadly rains across Central America and a hurricane which leaders estimated caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages across the eastern Caribbean.

(With inputs from agencies.)