Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    MANAGUA, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The Inter American Bank of Development (IDB) gave a loan of 20 million U.S. dollars to the commercial bank of Nicaragua to support the small- and medium-sized companies in 2009, IDB authorities said Thursday.

    IDB representative in Nicaragua Mirna Lievano made the announcement on Thursday and called on the Nicaraguan government to continue the dialogue with its partners.

    Earlier IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno had informed Nicaragua of not giving the 300-million-dollar loan requested by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega as it is a debt country.

    "Nicaragua must have a dialogue with the cooperating (countries) to change its image before the Challenge Account of the Millennium (CAM) and the European Union (EU)," Lievano said.

    On Wednesday, the U.S. government again froze the CAM to Nicaragua while the EU also refused to provide some 100 million dollars in 2009 budget support for the country.

    Lievano said that during the past two years, Nicaragua has received a total of 80.2 million dollars from the IDB.