The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved a $350 million plus $20 million loan from the Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF) to Costa Rica.

The $370 million loan is to enhance disaster and climate-resilient infrastructure and services in Costa Rica. 

According to the bank, by financing the reconstruction of gray and green infrastructure damaged in recent disasters and strengthening the country’s disaster risk management capacity, the project aims to benefit 2 million people, almost 40% of the country’s population.

Recent disasters, such as Hurricane Eta (2020), extreme rainfall in July 2021, and Tropical Storm Bonnie (2022), caused severe damage to public facilities, water resources management, transport sectors and others, in 37 of 82 cantons in Costa Rica.

The loan will help to address these damages by assisting reconstruction efforts and providing resilient infrastructure to people living in highly vulnerable regions, said the bank in its statement.

The fund's goal is to invest in critical infrastructure for flood control and slope stabilization and the reconstruction of bridges and roads. 

Additionally, the capital will be used to build and equip multi-purpose emergency shelters and disaster response facilities.

The loan also will be used to finance investments to enhance early warning systems and services at the local level in several vulnerable river basins.

"Costa Rica is making progress to guarantee the resilience of public investments and the safeguarding of human life. However, it remains highly exposed to extreme weather events and natural hazards, which increases the impact of these risks," said Nogui Acosta Jaén, Minister of Finance. " This (loan) is aligned with the country's climate change mitigation and adaptation strategy and will support our priority of investing in resilient infrastructure and services to protect people living in the most vulnerable areas." 

The funds will be implemented by the National Commission for Emergency. 

The Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF), is a multilateral partnership designed to support the financing needs of middle-income countries hosting large numbers of refugees. 

Costa Rica became an eligible recipient country of the GCFF in December 2022. The concessional financing was made possible thanks to a contribution from the United States of America, added the World Bank in its statement.

However, before being able to execute the loan, the government must present the agreement with the bank before Congress. It's up to the deputies to decide whether to approve or reject the multi-million-dollar loan.

Recently, Costa Rica and Panama inaugurated the new General Border Control Center headquarters in Paso Canoas Canton in Puntarenas Province. That facility was financed with a $33 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

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