IDB approves loan for health

While hurricane relief has been dominating our relationships with foreign financial institutions, there are many projects in the pipeline that have nothing to do with Keith. Today the Interamerican Development Bank announced the approval of a 9.8 million U.S. dollar loan, which will improve the delivery of health care. The funds will go toward bringing the National Health Insurance plan on stream and include allotments for training and technical assistance as well as financial support for the initial NHI pilot project fund. Total cost of the program is 18.1 million U.S. dollars. Apart from IDB, the remainder is being funded by 4.7 million from the Caribbean Development Bank, 1.6 million from the European Union and 2 million from the government of Belize. The IDB loan has a twenty-five year term, four-year grace period and a variable interest rate currently at 6.77 percent.