The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is expanding digital tools to strengthen transparency and accountability in Latin America and the Caribbean, the bank said. Under InvestmentMap, a regional initiative for tracking budgets, investments, and public procurement, the IDB supports national and subnational governments in building digital ecosystems that let citizens understand, monitor, and oversee how public money gets spent in real time.
On International Anti-Corruption Day, the platform hit a new milestone: the launch of InvestmentMap 2.0 in the Dominican Republic, which includes new features based on interoperability, open-source code, and artificial intelligence to make data easier to access. The move positions the region as a global benchmark in using new technologies to strengthen transparency and public integrity in managing public finances.
The Ministry of Finance and Economy of the Dominican Republic, together with the IDB, unveiled MapaInversiones 2.0, a renewed platform that, for the first time, pulls together budgetary, programming, financial execution, physical progress, and contractual process data. The work reflects sustained efforts on institutional strengthening and public spending traceability, supported by the IDB, giving an integrated view of the complete cycle of public resources.
The new version of InvestmentMap uses AI components to improve citizen monitoring, along with better data quality, governance, and accessibility. These advances align with internationally recognized frameworks, including the UN Convention against Corruption, UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, and OECD recommendations on public integrity, open government, public procurement, and responsible AI use.
Paula Acosta, chief of the Institutional Capacity of the State Division at the IDB, said the new version not only makes information easier to access but also optimizes processes, improves databases, and strengthens traceability, offering citizens cutting-edge tech to consult, monitor, and interact with the state in a simple way. Developed by the IDB as a regional digital public good, InvestmentMap now features a chatbot that lets citizens ask questions in plain language and get answers based exclusively on official public investment data.
The tool uses an algorithmic transparency mechanism through a chatbot that shows the reasoning behind each response, building trust and allowing independent verification. Right now, the assistant works with information from the National Public Investment System and answers key questions about projects, approved amounts, physical progress, execution, and where public investment is going across the country.
