The difficulty in accessing financing has been a limiting factor for the proper functioning of the productive sectors in recent years, a view shared by, for example, Elena de Alfaro, president of the Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Fusades).

Alfaro said that the World Bank report "Doing Business 2012" states that access to credit is one of the main problems for Salvadoran firms.

This may change after late May, when the Development Bank of El Salvador (Bandesal) starts operations, with assets of $202 million and an Economic Development Fund of $65 million.

"Silvia Cuellar, executive director of the Exporters Corporation of El Salvador (Coexport) sees Bandesal as an excellent alternative and in fact three exporting companies and have been able to obtain credit in the new bank. The response has been swift and positive," reported Elsalvador.com.

Source: elsalvador.com

More on this topic

Useless? Development Banking in Costa Rica

June 2013

The bureaucratic requirements contained in a bill advancing in Congress would continue to hamper access to credit for entrepreneurs.

A few days ago Congress ruled on the Law for Strengthening Development Banking, under which sureties are not required, interest would be low and deadlines for payment would be longer.

Productive Projects Pending Credit

May 2012

The Development Bank of El Salvador has received about 700 investment prospects recently and is preparing to grant loans starting from this May.

"We have received more than 700 potential prospects, some of which some are already in advanced stages," said Oscar Lindo, chairman of the Development Bank of El Salvador (BANDESAL) to Laprensagrafica.com.

El Salvador: Credit to MSMEs

February 2012

The start of 2012 will see the launch of the new Development Banking System, which has $200 million in credit to support micro, small and medium enterprises.

Bandesal has, to start off with, $200 million for small and medium enterprises."However, we are aiming later on to provide funding for large enterprises, preferably those that require large investments such as construction and agricultural industries, said the technical secretary of the Presidency, Alexander Segovia," in an article by from Daniel Gonzalez Choto a ElFinancierocr.com correspondent in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica: Development Banking Lent $2.45 Million

June 2009

These credits have been distributed among 243 projects of micro and small entrepreneurs.

By the end of May, 51% of the loan has gone to the agriculture sector, 19% to commerce, 14% to cattle raising, 6% to services, 6% to dairy production, 3% to industry y 1% to tourism.