Belize Bank Signs Master Guarantee Agreement with C.D.F.

The Credit Risk Abatement Facility aims to strengthen access to finance for small and medium enterprises by providing them with a greater range of financing options.  One critical challenge for S.M.E.s is the lack of access to financing for investments in renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency measures.  CRAF, as it is otherwise known, is the brainchild of the CARICOM Development Fund.  This morning, an agreement was signed between the C.D.F. and the Belize Bank Limited.

 

Filippo Alario, Exec. Chairman, Belize Bank

“We are extremely excited about this facility.  It’s been going, our negotiations have been going on for over a year [and] we felt that we needed to partner with someone like CRAF that has the experience, that has the know-how and that has the credit enhancements required to assist us to finance small and medium enterprises in the areas of energy and energy efficiency.  As you know, traditional banks do traditional lending and so we need the expertise of other entities to get to finance what we consider more risky projects, not more risky for them because they understand the industry.  So sometimes we think that getting together, government, traditional banks, multilaterals, development agencies, when we get together I think that the impact is much more impactful for the benefit of our clients.”

 

Rodinald Soomer, C.E.O., CARICOM Development Fund

“In this instance, we are dealing with sustainable energy sector.  We have done a lot of development work in Belize, in agriculture and in SMEs, as well.

 

Reporter

“The Belize Bank is signing on, let’s talk a little bit about what now is made possible through this signing.”

 

Rodinald Soomer

“The way the Credit Risk Abatement Facility operates is that it tries to address a problem with SMEs that are trying to invest in renewable energy efficiency to improve the performance of their business and reduce their carbon footprint and the crux of that is to make affordable financing available to them for investment.”

 

The first Master Guarantee Agreement was signed by the CDF and the St. Lucia Development Bank in April 2021, to provide partial credit guarantee for investments in projects advancing the use of photovoltaic systems, efficient air conditioning and lighting systems.