World Bank gives Peru US$3 billion credit line for post-disaster reconstruction

LIMA – Peru has secured US$3 billion worth of World Bank Group (WBG) contingent credit lines to reconstruct infrastructure damaged and destroyed by recent “Coastal El Niño” floods.

From said sum, US$500 million are available through financial instruments.

In this sense, WBG operations advisor in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela Boris Utria affirmed the Peruvian Government has already gained access to said resources. “Those [credit] lines were already activated, they are available,” Utria said.

“Mobilization of said resources, […] whether in the rehabilitation or the reconstruction stage, lies at the discretion of the Peruvian Government,” he added.

The WBG representative also noted the multilateral institution is ready to restructure the Peruvian portfolio’s active projects in order to provide financing and technical assistance rapidly.

Remarks were made during his presentation at the Reconstruction Challenges Forum, organized by the Association for the Promotion of National Infrastructure (AFIN).