in financial support to fight the pandemic alone, according to the president of the Latin American Association of Development Financing Institutions (ALIDE). “COVID-19 PROJECTS” FINANCED BY DFIS IN ARGENTINA From the analysis carried out on the portfolio of projects – approved or under preparation – of 11 financial institutions in Argentina, a series of findings can be extracted in relation to those that are directly or indirectly associated with responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic recovery. Among these findings, it is worth mentioning: • In Argentina a total of 14 projects associated with COVID-19 were identified. They are financed by 5 different institutions: IDB, World Bank, CAF, FONPLATA and CABEI and involve a total amount of approx. USD 1,830 million. • Three additional “Regional” projects in which Argentina is involved could be added to that list of 14 projects: “Regional Contingent Credit Line for Support and Sector Strengthening of Health Systems in the Framework of the COVID-19 Pandemic,” financed by the CAF (USD 500 million)13; the LAAD II project financed by IDB Invest (USD 30 million), and the LocFund Next L.P. project financed by the US DFC (USD 20 million). However, due to the characteristics of these projects and the scant information available in this regard, it is difficult to determine the degree of Argentina’s participation in them. In the case of the CAF project, it hasn’t even been possible to access minimal information about the project that would at least allow elucidating its objectives or the countries involved. In the case of the LAAD II project financed by IDB Invest, the scant information available shows that it consists of a senior unsecured loan to support the liquidity needs of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the agribusiness sector, in Latin America and the Caribbean region, which have been impacted by COVID-19, and in principle the project would involve, in addition to Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay. Lastly, the LocFund Next L.P. project financed by the US DFC (USD 20 million) consists of a fund that will use the proceeds of the DFC loan to makes loans, primarily in local currency, to microfinance institutions (MFIs) across Latin America. Again, there is no further information to elucidate Argentina’s share in the project or which are the other Latin American countries involved. • Another case worth highlighting is that of the regional project RG-T3049: CANEF – Support for the development of a regional extractive sector vision for Latin America and the Caribbean. The objective of this Technical Cooperation is to foster and support the development of a long-term vision for a “responsible” and “sustainable” extractive sector in the LAC region, by establishing permanent engagement platforms between government, industry and civil society that can generate concrete multi stakeholder collaboration mechanisms; and developing and disseminating knowledge products about sector governance at the regional and national levels. The project was approved on July, 2017, but the Argentine government only reactivated the project in 2020, in the context of the pandemic. Thus, the Argentine government, through its Mining Secretariat, decided to ask the IDB for technical and financial support for the development of a national strategic mining policy. In this way, the request of the Argentine authorities is intended to promote the mining sector, considering it a tool to overcome the national economic crisis and promote economic reactivation in the framework of the global COVID-19 pandemic. In this way, although the project itself does not have a direct relationship with COVID-19 and 13. The only information available on this project on the CAF website is its amount (USD 500 million), its approval date (March 2, 2021), and the fact that it consists of a regional project. There are no additional data to clarify the role of Argentina in the project. 17 DFIs FINANCING IN ARGENTINA DURING THE PANDEMIC: COVID-19 PROJECTS AND TRANSPARENCY SHORTCOMINGS