IDB and Government Sign $10M Loan for Healthcare and Urban Development

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Belize have signed a ten-million-dollar loan agreement aimed at enhancing the country’s healthcare services and urban infrastructure. The initiative will focus on improving infrastructure and urban services in Belize’s northern municipalities, including Orange Walk, Corozal, and San Pedro. The project will also be supported through an additional 7-million-dollar IDB loan, a 7-million-dollar loan from the Korean Infrastructure Development Co-Financing Facility for Latin America and the Caribbean, and 3.36-million-dollar IDB grant. The project will focus on improving areas of health such as reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health, non-communicable diseases, emergency services, and mental health support. Additionally, Prime Minister John Briceno says the project will have a positive impact on several communities through the upgrading of road infrastructure.

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize:  “The officials from IDB that once you put in good road the people there start to quality of homes and they’ve left a section that was not paved so that we can still put in sewage and water system in that area which we believe is the next phase that we want to do. They’re very pleased and they’re prepared to continue to support us. They’re going to give us a grant for several millions of dollars to be able to do some work in the San Mateo along with the loan that we’re doing to upgrade and do more work in Orange Walk and Corozal Town along with San Pedro.”

The contract was signed by IDB Executive Vice President Jordan Schwartz and Belizean Prime Minister John Briceño during the Third High-Level Dialogue of the Regional Climate Change Platform of Finance and Economy Ministries last week.