IADB president launches early push for capital increase to $20bn
Mauricio Claver-Carone, the new head of the Inter-American Development Bank, hopes to leverage concerns about Chinese lending to win the support of US lawmakers for boosting the bank’s yearly lending capacity to $20 billion as the region grapples with the COVID-19 crisis.
Claver-Carone, a senior adviser to US President Donald Trump who was elected as president of the IADB last month, said he has already begun discussions with Democrats and Republicans in Congress, and expects to finalize a capital increase plan for the bank’s board by March. The United States is the IADB’s largest shareholder with 30% of the vote.
A new concept paper submitted to the bank’s board puts the region’s financing needs at $25 billion a year at a time when it has been hard-hit by the pandemic, and lending by China, the United States and other countries is down sharply.
Claver-Carone said his outreach to US lawmakers month before any board action was a bit “unorthodox", but was intended to smooth the way for approval of the capital increase for Latin America’s main financing institution.
Winning US support for funding multilateral institutions is usually difficult and could be even tougher during the current crisis. Some Democrats could also balk after opposing Trump’s nomination of Claver-Carone, a US citizen, for a job traditionally held by someone from Latin America.
