EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The global emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led national governments to adopt a
wide range of measures to face the main health, socioeconomic and environmental consequences
associated with it, as well as to promote a necessary economic reactivation on a national, regional
and global scale. Within this framework, from the very beginning of the emergency, Development
Finance Institutions (DFIs) have assumed a leading role, providing technical assistance and
fast disbursement financing to support the implementation of the lockdown and economic
reactivation measures promoted by national governments. In addition, they have represented
important alternatives for financing development projects for countries like Argentina, whose
fragile socioeconomic and financial situation has been aggravated and intensified by the
pandemic itself.
This report analyzes the particular situation of Argentina in relation to the development projects
promoted in the country during the pandemic, with financing by the main DFIs that operate in
the country. Based on the analysis of the project portfolio of these institutions in the country
between March 2020 and May 2021, a series of findings and conclusions are raised in relation
to the development projects promoted with the apparent objective of addressing the pandemic.
Of the 40 projects with financing (or potential financing) from DFIs in that period in Argentina,
19 have been identified that can be considered as “COVID-19 Projects.” That is, they have a
direct or indirect association with measures to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of these
projects correspond to the Health, Law and Government and Financial Markets sectors and are
financed mainly by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), although
there are also projects financed by the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), the FONPLATA
Development Bank and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), for amounts
that involve more than USD 1.8 billion. In turn, there are a series of regional “COVID-19 Projects”
in which Argentina seems to be involved, although the information publicly available on these
projects is very scarce and in certain cases even non-existent.
In point of fact, the great difficulties in accessing accurate and updated information in relation
to the projects that are being financed by the main DFIs in Argentina in the framework of the
pandemic has been one of the main findings of this research. In the context of a pandemic, access
to accurate, reliable, up-to-date and detailed information on the projects that are being financed by
DFIs is a key priority. But this turned out not be the case. There are serious shortcomings in terms of
transparency and access to information in relation to these projects. In addition, numerous projects
have been approved in very short periods of time, through quick disbursement windows, which
generates doubts and concerns in terms of transparency, public participation and accountability.
According to the analysis, the projects approved or in preparation for the period analyzed are mainly
aimed at covering, in part, the expenses associated with the measures and policies implemented
by the national government in response to the pandemic and the associated restrictive measures
and lockdown. At the same time, a large part of the projects is mainly oriented towards sanitary
measures and the strengthening of the health system at both the national and subnational levels,
as well as economic and financial measures aimed at providing credit and benefits to actors such as
Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). However, the analysis shows that the DFIs’ financing
in Argentina has not been focused on projects that really provide assistance to the population
in a vulnerable situation that has been affected by the consequences of the pandemic. Nor can
projects be identified that are specifically oriented to environmental issues or the fight against
climate change, or projects that propose alternative models or some minimal paradigm shift in
relation to the current development model promoted in the country and in the region.
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DFIs FINANCING IN ARGENTINA DURING THE PANDEMIC:
COVID-19 PROJECTS AND TRANSPARENCY SHORTCOMINGS