- Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
- Environment
- Machinery and Equipment
- Export Loans
- Overseas Investment Loans
September 12, 2013
- The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC; Governor: Hiroshi Okuda) signed on September 11 (Costa Rica time), a general agreement with Banco de Costa Rica (BCR), a state-owned bank of Costa Rica, for offering two credit lines ("these credit lines") amounting up to 30 million U.S. dollars (JBIC portion) in total. These credit lines are cofinanced with private financial institutions, which bring the total cofinanced amounts to 50 million U.S. dollars in total. Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) will provide insurance for the portion cofinanced by private financial institutions.
- These credit lines are offered to finance local Costa Rican companies for purchasing renewable energy-related facilities*1 and climate change mitigation-related facilities,*2 in addition to general machinery and equipment, from Japanese companies. These credit lines will enable, through BCR, the provision of medium- and long-term U.S. dollar financing and thereby support the expansion of transactions between Japanese companies and Costa Rican companies. These credit lines were materialized this time based on the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between JBIC and BCR in May this year.*3
- Costa Rica, where close to 90% of domestic power is generated by renewable energy, achieved 5% real economic growth in 2012, and has registered stable growth in recent years. As a number of renewable energy development projects, focusing on wind and geothermal power, are being planned, it is expected that business opportunities for Japanese companies will increase in this area where Japanese technologies have received high international acclaim.
- As a public financial institution, JBIC will continue to support Japanese industries, in cooperation with such overseas local financial institutions, by drawing on its various financial facilities and schemes for structuring projects and performing its risk-assuming function.
Note
- *1 They include those for geothermal power, wind power, biomass power, solar photovoltaic and solar thermal generation.
- *2 They include those for thermal power plants with CCS facilities, CCS projects, waste to energy projects, hybrid power plants, combined heat & power projects, district heating and/or cooling related projects. CCS is a technology that separates, captures, and stores carbon dioxide, a major culprit of greenhouse gases, in deep sea beds or underground geological formations.
- *3 See Press Release on May 24, 2013.