inter-american development bank

The Inter-American Development Bank, was established in 1959 to support Latin American and Caribbean economic/social development and regional integration by lending mainly to public institutions. The Bank is owned by 46 member countries, 20 of which are lenders: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States. 26 of the members are borrowers: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela. The United States holds the most IDB shares, at 30%, but borrowers in the agreggate hold about 50% of the total number of shares. The IDB is unique among development banks in that some of its members are also borrowers. Though this arrangement was first viewed as risky, but as of 2005 no member has defaulted. It is thought that strict peer pressure has prevented the borrowers from defaulting, even when they were under severe economic pressure (c.f. Haiti and Argentina).

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