CABEI Executive President Gisela Sanchez on institutional priorities and innovative financing

Gisela Sánchez made history as the first woman to lead the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). A seasoned executive and social entrepreneur, Sánchez brings a wealth of experience from across Latin America, including founding Nutrivida, a social enterprise combatting malnutrition in Central America and Haiti. We caught up with Executive President Sánchez during our June 2025 Development Forum to discuss her priorities at CABEI, innovative financing solutions, and the strategic importance of the Bank’s long-standing partnership with the OPEC Fund.

What are your current priorities at CABEI?

One of our priorities is to create the best financial conditions for our countries. We were recently able to cut our interest rates by 60 to 80 basis points, which allowed our countries to save more than US$100 million. That could be redeployed to new projects and other priorities, as well as more innovative solutions for the countries we serve.

What are other innovative ways we can use to mobilize more finance?

We just signed two exposure exchange agreements: One with CAF for US$700 million and one with the Caribbean Development Bank for US$450 million, making a total of US$1.1 trillion. That demonstrates that we can use our balance sheet in the best way possible to bring new resources to the region and the countries we serve.

How is the cooperation with the OPEC Fund?

We have a long-standing relationship with the OPEC Fund. We're very grateful for the opportunities and projects that we’ve worked on. We're now evaluating a pipeline for projects in Costa Rica, El Salvador, an opportunity in Colombia and so on. We strongly believe that the only way is to collaborate. The OPEC Fund has been a tremendous and positive ally for CABEI.

How would you characterize the strategic value of our partnership?

We’ve been strategic partners almost since the creation of the OPEC Fund – so almost 50 years of strategic relations to bring financial solutions to the countries in Latin America. There are so many projects that we’ve worked on together, including infrastructure projects, renewable energy solutions and finding ways to improve the quality of life for people in our countries. We’re now looking forward to the opportunities moving forward in the next 50 years.

How are we going to increase our partnership over the next half-century?

We’ve been co-financing many different initiatives in the countries that we serve. But we could join projects at an earlier stage, bringing the strategic priorities of the OPEC Fund along with the priorities of the countries that we serve to design the best projects for the region. These projects can maximize economic integration at the same time as social and environmental value. We’re looking forward to bringing our core competencies — in addition to the financing of the OPEC Fund — to ensure the best solutions for our region. That's especially important in this inflection point that we’re living in, that requires even more integration and cooperation among multilateral development banks.

Partnership Snapshot

The OPEC Fund and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) have been partners since 1979, building a strong relationship around shared priorities for sustainable growth and regional integration across Latin America and the Caribbean. To date, the OPEC Fund has financed 16 operations with CABEI, totaling around US$467 million and spanning energy, transport and storage, banking and agriculture sectors.

In June 2025, the OPEC Fund and CABEI signed a cooperation agreement to further strengthen collaboration in priority areas, including infrastructure, energy and human development, with the aim of scaling up impact across the LAC region.