The Board of Directors of CAF — Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean — voted on 15 December 2025 to re-elect Sergio Díaz-Granados as Executive President for the 2026–2031 term, granting him a second consecutive five-year mandate at the helm of one of the region's most significant multilateral development institutions, according to an announcement published on CAF's official website.
Díaz-Granados expressed his intention to pursue an ambitious institutional agenda during the new term, centred on the goal of doubling CAF's portfolio and significantly expanding the bank's engagement with the private sector by 2031. The decision by the Board of Directors reflects confidence in the strategic direction he has set for CAF since his initial appointment, and signals continuity for the institution's membership of sovereign borrowers and partner institutions across the region.
PORTFOLIO EXPANSION AND PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT
The ambition to double CAF's portfolio represents a substantial scaling target for a multilateral development bank operating across a complex and economically diverse region. Development institutions of this kind mobilise capital for infrastructure, social development, and economic integration projects across their member countries, drawing on their preferred-creditor status and strong credit ratings to borrow in international capital markets at relatively favourable terms and on-lend to sovereign and sub-sovereign borrowers in the region at concessional or competitive rates.
The explicit commitment to expanding private sector work marks an evolution in the strategic emphasis of CAF's mandate under Díaz-Granados. Development banks across the multilateral system have come under sustained pressure from shareholders and donor communities to leverage their balance sheets more aggressively in order to crowd in private capital alongside their own direct financing, rather than acting as the sole financier of eligible projects. Greater private sector mobilisation would allow CAF to facilitate a substantially larger volume of development-relevant investment relative to its own capital base.
CAF's membership spans more than twenty countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as European shareholders, providing the institution with a broad operational mandate that extends from large infrastructure programmes in Andean nations to financial sector development initiatives and climate-related investments in Central America and across Caribbean island states. The geographical breadth of the membership creates both opportunity and complexity for a president seeking to deliver consistent growth in lending volumes.
SIGNIFICANCE OF A SECOND TERM
A second five-year term extending through to 2031 provides Díaz-Granados with the institutional runway and authority needed to execute on the portfolio growth and private-sector engagement objectives he has outlined. Continuity in multilateral development bank leadership is generally viewed positively by member governments, co-financing partners, and international bond investors alike, as it reduces uncertainty about strategic direction and helps maintain the institutional relationships on which lending programmes depend.
The Board of Directors of CAF draws its membership from representatives of the bank's shareholder countries, and their decision to re-elect Díaz-Granados reflects broad shareholder confidence in his stewardship of the institution. CAF has increased its lending volumes and broadened its country and thematic coverage during his first term, strengthening its standing relative to peer multilateral institutions competing for mandate and project pipeline in the Latin American market.
For the Latin American and Caribbean financial and development community, the re-election confirms that CAF's strategic trajectory will remain consistent as the region navigates a period of considerable economic complexity. The management of elevated public debt levels, the financing of energy transition commitments, and the need to attract private capital into infrastructure and social programmes across member states are all likely to feature prominently on the agenda for Díaz-Granados's second term beginning in 2026.