Costa Rica receives a $500,000 donation from CABEI to cope with the emergency caused by Hurricane Eta

Tegucigalpa, November 24, 2020.- The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) approved a non-reimbursable technical cooperation under the modality of emergency aid in the amount of $500,000.00 to the Republic of Costa Rica to support it in facing the emergency caused by hurricane Eta.

The objective of this type of donation for aid in the face of natural phenomena is to accompany government authorities in the actions that are necessary to attend to the affected population. Some of these actions are:

• Purchase of food, drinking water and other primary use goods required by the affected people.
• Purchase of medicines and medical care for affected people.
• Purchase of mattresses and other materials required in the shelters created to attend the emergency.

The Government of Costa Rica estimates that 325,000 people were directly and indirectly affected by Hurricane Eta. Of these, 2,056 were mobilized to 77 temporary shelters installed in 23 cantons.

The President of the Republic, Carlos Alvarado, expressed his gratitude to CABEI for the prompt response and highlighted that "this economic support means a great contribution to continue helping in the recovery and reconstruction of the most affected places in the country by the passage of the hurricane".

Executive President of CABEI, Dr. Dante Mossi said "A few days ago Costa Rica was one of the first founding partners of CABEI to ask us for this cooperation and we are pleased that the response time has been so short, mainly for the benefit of the affected people".

Yamilette Mata, Executive Director of the Emergency Commission thanked the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) for its solidarity support in times of emergency and said that these resources will be used to purchase food, reservoirs and accessories for the availability of drinking water.  Also, for mattresses and blankets needed to care for victims during the emergency.

Pilar Garrido, Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy said "As Governor of CABEI, I celebrate the Bank's fundamental role in our country, whether to support efforts to address crises generated by COVID-19 or, in this case, by Hurricane ETA, through non-reimbursable cooperation; as well as in key public investment projects such as hospitals, roads, aqueducts and sewers, among others, which are strategic for economic recovery and sustainable development"..

In addition to this grant, CABEI is structuring the $2.5 billion "Central American Program for Resilient Reconstruction" available to member countries upon request and is being designed to finance projects that address and prevent disasters and calamities in order to adapt to the effects of climate variability and change, with the goal of restoring livelihoods and creating socio-economic opportunities in affected communities .