Fueled by the worldwide financial woes and U.S. economic slowdown, request for financial assistance of Latin American countries from the Inter-American Development Bank may reach record-breaking levels in 2009, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno said in an interview with
. The bank is ready to lend as much as USD18 billion this year, including USD6 billion from an emergency liquidity fund established last year, Moreno said. He added that loans from the fund may hit nearly USD2.5 billion in the next three months.