May 1, 2009

IDB gives Mexico US$3 billion to fight swine flu, economic crisis

The Inter-American Development Bank announced Thursday (April 29) it would approve US$3 billion in loans for Mexico to fight the effects of the swine flu and the global economic crisis.

Mexico "is confronting these challenges in an effective, timely and transparent way," said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno in a statement.

To support those efforts, the Bank "will expand the resources for a series of programs in our pipeline and we will speed up disbursements," he said.

The effects of the swine flu crisis "could worsen Mexico's contraction, adding to the economic slowdown caused by decreases in remittances and exports," the IDB statement read.

The IDB "will support programs designed to defend the progress Mexico made against poverty in recent years."

Mexico on Thursday sharply raised its number of confirmed flu cases to 260, including 12 deaths, as many citizens prepared to spend the May Day holiday at home to prevent the spread of the virus.

In Mexico City, considered "ground zero" for the H1N1 virus that is now bordering on a global pandemic, shuttered shops and restaurants were testament to authorities' clampdown on spaces that could pass on the contagion.