Ninth Consolidated Line of Credit Launched by the DFC  

Today, the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) launched its ninth consolidated line of credit. This initiative is part of an ongoing partnership between the DFC and the Caribbean Development Bank. It’s the third line of credit the DFC has introduced in the past two years, aimed at helping Belizeans secure loans for education, renewable energy projects, and small to medium-sized businesses. Here’s more on that.

 

Henry Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, D.F.C.

“This is significant  is a significant milestone for CDB and for DFC. As was said in the presentations, this is the third line of credit that DFC is getting in the past two years. How do we decide what we need? We have a pipeline, right? We have people and businesses coming to us, seeing, the kind of opportunities they need. And so we sit with CDB and then we construct a consolidated line. The reason we call it consolidated is because of the different parts that it has, right? In this case Porsche eighteen of the forty million goes to private sector. In form of MSMEs, which means firms up to thirty million believes in sales. Nine million goes to mortgage lending homes, financing homes. Nine million goes for student loans for tertiary education. And four million for renewable energy and energy efficiency. We have those. Basically, we intend to implement this loan in about two years in terms of disbursement. Or maybe a little bit over that. But the economy is performing, and when the economy is performing, the demand is there.”

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“At one time, you think it’s only the commercial banks you can go to, but because they have the funding, no small businesses can come to the DFC to get.  Women, you have different special programs designed for women. They can come to the DFC. Students, DFC is probably the only institution that have special loans for students. I remember helping a young man earlier this last month actually. In January, who was studying in Barbados. And what the bank does is that they have a loan, of course they have to have a sponsor, they pay only interest while they’re studying. And then when they come back, they pay the interest and the capital. These programs create real opportunities for people.”