• Undoubtedly, the high percentage of projects that correspond to the Health sector are
mainly explained by the pandemic, since most of these projects are aimed at strengthening
the national and subnational health system and the response efforts against the COVID-19
pandemic.Thus, these projects, mainly financed by the IDB and the World Bank, are particularly
oriented towards increasing the institutional and response capacity at the country and
subnational level.9
• In relation to the Transport sector, most of the projects correspond to Loan Operations aimed
at improving the services and conditions of road and rail transport in Argentina, and are mainly
financed by the IDB.
• Regarding the Law & Government sector, the projects are both Loan Operations and TCs aimed
at improving the efficiency and at strengthening key functions of the national and subnational
governments. As several of these projects are aimed at improving the institutional capacities
of the public sector to face the pandemic, in many cases they also correspond to the Health
sector.10
• The projects that correspond to the Social Investment sector consist mainly of TCs oriented
to the development of public and social protection policies for children, workers, women
and populations in a vulnerable situation in Argentina. It should be noted that, despite the
characteristics and objectives of these projects, only 1 of the 6 projects that correspond to this
sector is considered a “COVID-19 Project.”11
• Lastly, the projects that correspond to the Financial Markets sector are mainly oriented towards
contributing to increase the competitiveness and productivity, and support the sustainability,
of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs). In some cases they are designed in
support of employment in Argentina in the context of the crisis generated by the COVID-19
pandemic, by promoting the economic recovery of MSMEs.
• On the other hand, the “Regional” projects in which Argentina is included, and have been
approved or are under preparation in the stipulated period, total 14 projects, of which 9 are
under preparation and 5 under implementation. They correspond to 5 financial institutions:
the IDB (8 projects), IDB Invest (2 projects), the WB (1 project), CAF (1 project) and the US DFC
(2 projects).
• Most of the regional projects are Technical Cooperation (7 projects) and/or fall under
environmental and social category “C” (8 projects). But this categorization can in some cases
be at least problematic, as in the case of the IDB project RG-T3588: Innovation for Pasture
Management12. Although this TC is categorized within environmental and social risk “C”, the
characteristics of the project, the objective of which is to “Improve the self-sufficiency and
sustainability of livestock intensification by increasing at least 30% of the pasture harvest,
produced on family farms in the Southern Cone and Central America,” lead to the consideration
that it may have important environmental and social impacts mainly associated with land use
and livestock intensification, depending on the way the project is carried out. Unfortunately,
as in most projects of this type, the information available regarding the project is very scarce,
which makes it impossible to ascertain its particular characteristics in depth.
9. Further analysis of these projects is carried out in the next section.
10. Further analysis of these projects is carried out in the next section.
11. Further analysis of this project is carried out in the next section.
12. Regional Project which includes Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
Paraguay and Uruguay.
14
DFIs FINANCING IN ARGENTINA DURING THE PANDEMIC:
COVID-19 PROJECTS AND TRANSPARENCY SHORTCOMINGS
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