The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a $100 million loan to the Costa Rican government to finance its Border Integration Program.

The goal of the program is to increase the country’s competitiveness in foreign trade by modernizing its infrastructure and equipment, establishing processes and tools for effective controls and improving coordination. This will generate increased efficiency and a reduction in transaction costs for imports as well as exports.

The loan is part of the IDB’s regional efforts to support commercial and physical development and integration by significantly improving the infrastructure and management along the borders, which would generate a significant drop in the time and costs associated with the passage of goods and people through the borders and contribute to the competitiveness of the countries and the region.

The resources are designated for the border crossings in Paso Canoas, Peñas Blancas, Tablillas and Sixaola. This investment will be coordinated with a $55 million loan approved for Nicaragua to improve its border posts with Costa Rica and Honduras. A loan to Panama for a similar program is being prepared.

Specific objectives of the program include: implementing a physical and regulatory system, based on effective process control tools, and providing border crossings with proper infrastructure and equipment to respond effectively to the control processes and tools of goods and persons. These objectives are consistent with the efforts of the Central American countries to consolidate their regional integration process

The Finance Ministry will be in charge of carrying out the program. The loan has a repayment period of 25 years, a grace period of 5.5 years and an interest rate based on LIBOR. The Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica must ratify the loan contract before the government can make use of the funds.