Ecuador has won the Social loan of the year award in recognition of its innovative $500 million financing structure for its social and resilient housing programme. The programme aims to reduce the housing deficit, strengthen housing security and promote financial inclusion for low- and middle-income families.

The loan was issued in December 2025 with the support of a partial guarantee from the Inter-American Development Bank and contracted under the country’s Affordable and Resilient Housing Framework, which is aligned with the Loan Market Association’s Green and Social Loan Principles.

“The loan had very clear criteria targeting low-income households, the climate resilience component is highly commendable and necessary to improve resilience of vulnerable populations as is the classification of regions' climate risk profiles,” said one of the judges.

“I can see this, if successful, being a model replicated elsewhere, not only through sovereigns but also through the private sector.”

The loan was contracted through the Ministry of Economy and Finance and was structured based on a financing framework that received technical support from the Global Green Growth Institute, through the Global Trust Fund for Sustainable Finance program, financed by Luxembourg.