Inter-American Development Bank Annual Report 2004

This Annual Report contains a brief summary of the economic situation of Latin America and the Caribbean and a review of the Bank's operations in 2004. It provides a description on a country-by-country basis and a regional overlook of the Bank's various operations - loans, guarantees, financing for small projects and technical cooperation - for development in Latin America and the Caribbean; a summary statement of the loans approved in 2004; the financial statements of the Bank; and its general appendices. Natural disasters occurred in several countries during the year, leading the Bank to review its policies for providing relief and resulting in an increase in the ceiling for resources that can be provided in response to emergencies on a case-by-case basis. A number of important changes occurred in 2004 including the proposed new framework for lending instruments that will enhance the development impact of Bank operations and the Bank also approved its first performance driven loan for Nicaragua.