IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) will streamline their collaboration to provide much-needed financing to private companies and help boost growth and jobs in emerging markets.
ICO is the 24th development finance institution to sign IFC's Master Cooperation Agreement (MCA), which standardizes steps that lenders take when co-financing projects with IFC. This streamlined approach saves time and money for lenders and borrowers. Since the MCA was established in 2009, signatories have co-invested more than $3 billion in loans with IFC to support private sector development.
“With this renewed cooperation, we hope to continue our mutual efforts in providing financing to Spanish companies in order to enable them to develop their projects in emerging markets with positive impacts on economic growth and job creation,” said Fernando Navarrete, Chief Financial Officer of ICO.
Dimitris Tsitsiragos, IFC Vice President, said: “IFC and ICO share the goal of supporting private sector activities that promote sustainable economic growth and shared prosperity. As MCA partners we will be able to more efficiently work with Spanish companies to encourage investment and knowledge flows to emerging markets.”
IFC works closely with Spain to provide financing and advice to promote private sector development in emerging markets. Previously, IFC and ICO co-invested in wind power and telecommunications projects in Latin America. Spain’s development finance institution, Compañia Española de Financiación del Desarrollo (COFIDES), is also a signatory of the MCA.
IFC created the MCA in response to calls by the Group of 20 for official finance institutions to collaborate more closely to help meet shortfalls in private sector financing during the global financial crisis. For a list of MCA signatories, visit http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/topics_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/ifc+syndications/overview_benefits_structure/syndications/parallel+loans