CABEI to invest US$15.0 million in the Regional Coffee Transformation Initiative Trust Fund
With this strong boost to the coffee sector, we intend to improve coffee cultivation quality, benefiting more than 400,000 families in the region.
Tegucigalpa, February 24 2021.- The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) will participate with an amount of up to US$15.0 million as a strategic investor in the "Trust Fund for the Regional Coffee Transformation Initiative (ITRECAFE)", which aims to have trust assets of up to US$150.0 million.
This Trust aims to transform coffee farming in the region into a profitable, sustainable and impactful activity. The ITRECAFE initiative will operate in the Central American countries, Panama and the Dominican Republic. It is expected that this operation will provide resources focused on the technological improvement of the coffee production system, as well as facilitating access to specialized technical assistance services and promoting environmentally friendly production reconversion processes, among others. This trust will have a term of 10 years, extendable for up to 10 more years.
With this financial participation, CABEI is committed to the coffee sector's transformation so that the coffee bean produced has cup characteristics that allow the buyer to consider it special and be willing to pay a higher price.
On the occasion of this operation's approval, CABEI Executive President, Dr. Dante Mossi, mentioned that "coffee represents an average of 11.2% of the region's agricultural GDP, where 90% of producers are small, which has turned it into an important source of income that is distributed among a broad social base, generating a cascade effect and dynamizing local economies. The bank's participation is expected to raise the level of added value in order to improve the quality of life of close to 400,000 families linked to this productive activity. He also highlighted the promotional efforts to be made to encourage financial institutions and strategic partners to become part of this initiative and co-invest in the trust.
Finally, Dr. Mossi affirmed that an effective and joint participation of all international cooperation is needed at this stage of reactivation of the economies of the countries in the face of the effects of the emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to generate more job opportunities and mitigate the migratory flow of citizens to the United States and also to reduce climate change effects.
