CABEI and Banco Hondureño del Café sign an agreement to strengthen the Productive Sectors of Honduras

Tegucigalpa, Honduras, January 24, 2008

CABEI continues to work toward the development of the Productive Sectors of Honduras. The Honduran productive sectors will be the beneficiaries of CABEI´s approval of US$5.0 million to the Banco Hondureño del Café S.A (BANHCAFE) through the opening of a Global Credit Line (GCL). By signing this GCL Agreement, BANHCAFE joins our network of more than 170 Intermediary Financial Institutions used to channel funds for the development of the Central American countries in CABEI´s attempt to attend more of the region’s sectors. CABEI´s Honduran Director, Mr. Carlos Montoya, declared that, “the fundamental purpose of this credit mechanism that we have formalized today is for BANHCAFE to channel CABEI funds to finance medium-term credit programs that strengthen the region’s financial system and foster the country’s social and economic development”. The funds will be destined to finance industry in general, including the agricultural, trade and service sectors, with a special focus on the microfinance sector, taking advantage of BANHCAFE’s agencies in Honduras’s principal and secondary cities and its experience in attending the rural sector. For his part, Mr. Cesar Arturo Zavala, BANHCAFE’s General Manager stated that, “the credit line that CABEI has approved will permit us to provide new credit options through our network of 45 agencies in the nation and, to a large degree, to meet the needs of our clients”. In conformity with the strategic axes that guide CABEI´s operations, of total approvals in 2006, US$249.3 million was targeted at operations related to the poverty reduction axis; US$1.28 billion at the axis of Central America’s competitive insertion on the global economy and; US$712.7 million at the regional integration axis. 60.3% of the approvals went to the public sector while 39.7% were for the private sector. In the framework of this strategic vision, CABEI is expanding and diversifying its operations in the Central American region, incorporating new members, new markets, products and services and improving its efficiency. All these changes are leading to a consolidation of its financial soundness and its investment grade ratings, permitting it to harness resources on better terms in order to increase its impact and provide financial solutions for the development of the region’s countries in an increasingly globalized world. About the Banco Hondureño del Café S.A. It was founded on May 7th, 1980 and began operations on May 4, 1981. It is headquartered in San Pedro Sula with offices in Tegucigalpa and 40 branches throughout the nation. BANHCAFE is a development bank with complementary services and activities of general commercial banking. Currently it is placing a special focus on the development of new financial services for the rural sector. Another aspect of its strategy involves the penetration of the market for microfinance programs and that of trust fund administration. It also seeks a greater market share in the financing of housing trade and consumption. All these activities are carried out with the decided support of its Board of Directors presided over by Mr. Miguel Alfonso Fernández Rápalo and the management team headed by Mr. Cesar A. Zavala López.