The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank are also on the list of "saviors" for Latin America countries, with the former providing US$6 billion in emergency loans for the region, and the latter, US$2.7 billion.

The IDB has decided to uplift the credit quota for Latin American countries to a record high of US$18 billion, while the World Bank also plans to lend US$13 billion to countries here in a bid to stabilize the regional economy.

These loans will be of vital importance for the Central American and Caribbean countries, as well as Ecuador and Bolivia to cope with the crisis, said Mauriciu Cardenas, an economist specialized in Latin America from the Brookings institution, a Washington D.C.-based independent research and policy organization.

Plummeting oil price has led to the vast fiscal gap of as much as US$1.5 billion in Ecuador, a major oil producer in the region, which could now only count on loans from the IDB, the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) and the Latin American Reserve Fund (FLAR).

Although most of the loans needed by the region are already in place so far this year, Latin American countries will still face great pressure to collect funds next year because of the uncertainties of the international market, which would force them to turn to international financial organizations for further help.

But if the world financial market continues to slump, loans provided by those international organizations would be far from enough, said Cardenas, adding that next year, overseas debts to be repaid by Latin American countries alone would reach as much as US$280 billion.

Analysts say that although Latin American countries will not easily give up their efforts to pursue regional financial integration, the re-involvement of international financial organizations in Latin American economy indicates that the regional efforts to realize financial independence are temporarily driven to wall.

The day when the founders of the Bank of the South can take reins of their financial affairs is still a long way off.

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2009)