BDE, the leading institution of the Ecuadorian Public Banking and the executing arm of the National Government for public investment in the territory, reacted immediately by making alternatives for the timely management of the health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic available for its clients.
In the first instance, in order to provide small and medium-sized Decentralized Autonomous Governments with immediate liquidity to meet their needs in the face of the effects of the pandemic, the BDE implemented the measure to restructure their debts. Additionally, in April, BDE launched the “COVID-19 Emergency Management Program” granting financing for up to USD 250,000 to the Autonomous Decentralized Provincial and Municipal Governments and / or their Public Companies, as well as the equitable distribution to the prefectures of USD 250,000 non-refundable, for prevention, control and mitigation actions against COVID-19.
As of May 4, 2020, the country entered a new phase in the management of the emergency, tending to a gradual reactivation of economic activities. BDE continues its intervention in this second stage with a fundamental role as financier of public works. It is coordinating, in conjunction with the governing Ministries, the resumption of the works financed within its diverse portfolio of infrastructure programs in the sectors of roads, drinking water and sanitation, urban equipment, etc.
Additionally, BDE is designing a post-emergency economic reactivation strategy through programs that encourage greater rural productivity and the reactivation and dynamization of the construction sector, the generation of new sources of employment and the diversification of the local workforce.
On the one hand, strategies are being coordinated together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to help overcome the crisis in the agricultural sector and to support economic and productive reactivation through access to credits with allocation of Non-Refundable and Refundable resources, which promote rural production intervention projects, and allow overcoming the great challenges of agricultural mechanization, irrigation, water wells, and promotion of the forestry sector, as well as the construction of storage infrastructure.
On the other hand, in the construction sector particularly, BDE has developed the "Mejora tu Barrio" (Improve your Neighborhood) program that seeks to finance the implementation of comprehensive projects in urban areas to improve neighborhoods in different cities of the country. Promoting the dynamization and diversification of the economy and local workforce, and promoting urban planning towards a true sustainable development, through the construction of more inclusive, productive and resilient urban environments.