CABEI will finance hospital services project that will benefit 3 million Nicaraguans

This is a machine translation of the original press release issued in Spanish

Tegucigalpa, March 23, 2021.- A total of 3 million people will have quality medical care and in better conditions in Nicaragua, after the approval of the financing from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), for the execution of the project “Strengthening the Attention Capacity in the Hospital Service Network in Prioritized Health Units”, the total amount of which amounts to US$114.6 million, of which CABEI finances US$85.0 million United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF), a credit agency for the UK exports US $29.55 million.

The initiative, of great social impact, focuses on the construction of 6 modular pre-industrialized and pre-designed steel hospitals in five cities of the country, with a capacity of 378 beds and their respective equipment. These infrastructures will be built according to standards that guarantee the installation of medical equipment and patient care.

According to the executive president of CABEI, Dr. Dante Mossi, the financing approved to the Republic of Nicaragua for the well-being of the population is part of the Bank's Country Strategy for Nicaragua (2018-2022) and the Institutional Strategy 2020- 2024 of CABEI.

“As the development bank of the region, we emphasize that through this financing in Nicaragua it will be possible to strengthen the equipment of services in hospitals, which will allow the isolation of patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Also, an oncology outpatient clinic will be built with its respective equipment in the Bertha Calderón hospital in Managua, with a capacity of 30 beds and the equipment of a molecular biology laboratory in the San Juan de Dios hospital in Estelí”, Mossi said.

The direct intervention area corresponds to the departments that are served by the hospital centers, in which the modular hospitals will be installed, these being: Managua, Masaya, Granada, Carazo, Rivas, Matagalpa, Jinotega, Estelí, Madriz, Nueva Segovia, Chontales, Boaco, Nueva Guinea and Río San Juan. However, given that some of the hospitals are of national reference, it is expected to benefit the entire country.

The financial structuring of the operation was carried out by CABEI and has the participation of the United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF), the UK export credit agency. UKEF's participation will be through a direct loan for US$29.55 million and the granting of a guarantee to CABEI for an amount of US$66.5 million.

CABEI's financing will be divided into 2 tranches: A first tranche will be for an amount of US$18.5 million and a second tranche for US$66.5 million, guaranteed by UKEF. Likewise, it will have a term of up to 10 years and 9 months, with a grace period of up to 15 months, at an indicative weighted rate of 1.75% per annum.