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Nicaragua Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Alberto Jose Guevara Obregon, Keynote Speaker at FISC Conference

Alberto Jose Guevara Obregon shares success of “Hambre Cero” program at the FreeBalance International Steering Committee Conference (FISC)

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Ottawa, Canada (January 18, 2012) – FreeBalance, a leading vendor of Government Resource Planning (GRP) software, is pleased to announce that Alberto Jose Guevara Obregon, the Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Nicaragua, delivered a keynote presentation at the annual FreeBalance International Steering Committee (FISC) event taking place from January 16-18, 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey. Minister Obregon spoke about the challenges and rewards of the “Hambre Cero” program launched by Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua in early 2007.

The “Hambre Cero, also known as “Zero Hunger” program was designed to improve employment and sustainability among low income earners in rural Nicaragua. Hambre Cero is a unique micro credit loan facility, with payback percentage at the end of the year. This payback is managed by a community maintenance fund and crops are allocated to a ‘seed bank’ to ensure agricultural growth for the following year. The program goals are to reduce poverty and improve food security. The Hambre Cero program builds human capacity to achieve sustainable agricultural communities.

“One of the key values of FISC is shared development innovation lessons from developing countries around the world,” said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO of FreeBalance. “Like public financials, micro-finance and capacity building need to be adapted to the country context. We look forward to learning more about achieving sustainable development results from this program.”

Minister Guevara Obregon has an academic and institutional perspective on the Nicaragua reform roadmap. Minister Guevara Obregon held the position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board of Governors as Governor of Nicaragua and is currently the Alternative Governor. He was also the President of the Board of Governors of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE). He also held the position of President of the Council of Finance Ministers in Central America, Panama, and Dominican Republic (COSEFIN) and was the President of Ad Hoc Committee on Reforms at the BCIE.

Born in Managua, Minister Guevara Obregon received a dual Master degree in Economics and Politics from University of Barcelona and Finance/Economics degree from Universidad Autónoma de México. He is former professor of Economics and Public Finance.

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance is a recognized as leader in fast, adaptable and successful GRP implementations. FreeBalance software manages a global civil service workforce of 1,500,000, and a quarter trillion ($US) annual budgets worldwide. FreeBalance provides software solutions for public financial and human resource management, and supports reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com.

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