Central America requires USD 20,000 billion to discourage migration to the US: BCIE president
Listen to this article
As a result of migration, President Donald Trump has threatened to eliminate aid
The countries of Central America require at least 20 billion dollars to finance development projects in the region and discourage migration to the United States, the president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration said on Wednesday.
Leer en español: Centroamérica requiere USD 20.000 millones para desalentar la migración a EEUU: presidente BCIE
Thousands of people from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, who make up the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America, are fleeing poverty and insecurity towards the United States, irritating President Donald Trump, who has threatened to suspend aid to these countries.
The government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador launched a Development Plan for Central America and Southern Mexico and deployed thousands of national guards to the country's borders last month to stop the migration of undocumented Central Americans after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexican exports to the United States.
"It is an estimated minimum investment of 20,000 million dollars in infrastructure projects involving railways, electrical interconnection networks, gas pipelines, and roads," said the chief executive of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE), Dante Mossi.
In an interview with Reuters, the executive of the body created by the governments of Central America in 1960 to finance projects in the region, said that Taiwan, Spain, France, and Germany "have expressed their financial will to accompany us."
Read also: Where are the world's stateless people?
However, due to the size of the projects, he said that CABEI will also seek resources from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank (WB), which would be executed by private national and international investors.
"The number one reason why people emigrate is that there is no work, it is urgent to promote development with income generation for the population and that they do not have to leave their countries," Mossi said.
"The region needs an industrialization process and it will not be carried out if there is not an adequate logistics infrastructure that is competitive, that is low-priced and can boost development," he added.
Reuters | Gustavo Palencia
Translated from: "Centroamérica requiere USD 20.000 millones para desalentar la migración a EEUU: presidente BCIE "
