International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF) delegation participates in signing ceremony for the first project of the Specialized Financial Intermediary Development Fund launched by Banco Agricola and the MIF in El Salvador on March 21, 2007.

In March 2006, the TaiwanICDF and the Inter-American Development Bank's Multilateral Investment Fund signed an agreement for the setting up of a US$15 million Specialized Financial Intermediary Development Fund (the Fund), for financing projects undertaken by microfinance institutions in Latin America. The cooperation earmarks a new model of co-financing with the IDB/MIF.

The first project under the Fund was launched in El Salvador with the IBD/MIF, a pioneer in micro finance, on March 21, 2007.

A delegation team led by TaiwanICDF Secretary General Chen Cheng-chung (陳正忠) was invited by the MIF to participate in the signing ceremony after the IDB's 48th Annual Meeting in Guatemala.

This project was the brainchild of Salvadoran President Elías Antonio Saca, and it is hoped it will enhance the development impact of workers' remittances from the U.S. to El Salvador.

The special financial facilities introduced by Banco Agricola will channel remittances into mortgage loan payments in order to improve access to mortgage loans by individuals of Salvadoran origin living in the U.S.

According to the U.N. Development Programme's Brief of Human Development El Salvador 2005, the Salvadoran population in the U.S. could soon reach 2.6 million. Half of these people have been in the U.S. for more than 10 years. Salvadoran immigrants and their remittances rank second only to Mexico in the U.S. (US Census Bureau 2000).

Banco Agricola is currently servicing 400 mortgage loans (a US$18 million portfolio) to Salvadorans living in the United States who travel to El Salvador to apply for and obtain them.

The specific objectives of this project are to: (i) introduce an innovative mortgage loan product to the Salvadoran community; (ii) channel workers' remittances into housing investments; (iii) mobilize emigrant savings through the involvement of formal financial institutions; (iv) promote capital accumulation and asset building among Salvadoran micro-entrepreneurs and small business owners; and (v) promote financial literacy among Salvadoran emigrants.

• Update: 2018/03/01
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