Barbados has signed a pair of agreements with the Inter-American Development Bank for $10 million in loan financing.

The funding will finance a programmed aimed at strengthening “human and social development” on the island, according to a government statement.

Barbados Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Christopher Sinckler signed the agreement for Barbados, while Chief of Operations and Officer in Charge of the IDB in Barbados, Christel Saab, signed for the IDB.

Sinckler said the project was “excellent and exceedingly important,” saying it was aimed at strengthening the country’s “Social Safety Net and Active Labour Market Policy.”

“Government has, over the past five years, been intensifying its efforts at… mitigating the worse effects of the recessionary conditions so as to ensure that our levels of poverty do not rise beyond what we consider to be acceptable levels,” he said. “We want to utilise skills and resources to bring people back into the mainstream of economic and social life of the country.”

The programme will be implemented over a five-year period at a cost of $10 million.

Of that total, $5 million will provided from the resources of Ordinary Capital of the Bank, and the other US $5 million from the resources of the China Co-financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean, which is also administered by the Bank.

“The programme is based on an integral approach and supports the country’s social and human development strategy, as defined in the Medium-Term Growth and Development Strategy 2013-2020,” Saab said.