Announcement of Nicaragua to Grow More Sugar Six Million Fifty Thousand US Dollars Loan for Expansion Project on July 1, 1976

International Finance Corporation 1818 H Street. N.W • Washington, D.C. 20433. lJS A 202-393-6360 Mt Iii&& IFC Press Release No. 77/1 Thursday, July 1, 1976 Nicaragua to Grow More Sugar $6.5 Million Loan for Expansion Project The International Finance Corporation (IFC), an affiliate of the World Bank, is lending $6.5 million for a $39.2 million expansion of an established sugar producer in Nicaragua. The financing is for Propiedades Azucareras de Nicaragua Limitada which will enlarge its processing plant near Chichigalpa, about 55 miles northwest of Managua, and develop approximately 10,500 acres of new cane fields at th~ Rio Grande, about 60 miles due east of the plant. In addition to IFC's loan, the U.S. Export-Import Bank and Wells Fargo •• Bank, N.A., are lending approximately $6.5 million each for project and other fixed asset purchases. Internal resources of approximately $13.7 million and the Company's earlier $7.9 million expenditures complete the project financing. The expansion will increase the Company's sugar processing capacity from 130,000 to about 173,000 metric tons per year. The area under sugar cane cultivation will be increased from 37,500 acres to about 48,000 acres. The company is one of Nicaragua's most substantial employers with 3,000 permanent workers and 2,600 seasonal workers. The project is expected to create jobs for some 680 permanent workers and 600 seasonal workers. Part of the increase in production will help meet rising domestic demand and part will be exported, resulting in estimated annual foreign exchange earnings of more than $14 million. The project will further benefit Nicaragua by putting into production previously idle land in an underdeveloped region. It complements World Bank activities in that the new cane fields will be irrigated by water from an upstream dam which the World Bank helped to finance. • (Any inQuiries strictly relating to IFC's participation in this project should be directed to the IFC Business Relations Unit, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, Telephone (202) 477-5770).