OFID approves $454M for developing countries

CAIRO – 14 December 2017: The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) has approved more than $454 million in funding for the development for developing countries, according to a press release sent Wednesday from Vienna, Austria by the OFID.

OFID’s newly-approved public sector loans, which total nearly $323 million, will support the following projects/programs in Bangladesh, Belize, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, China, Djibouti, Kyrgyz Republic, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Other approvals include 11 grants totaling $7.56 million. The grants support the following organizations: CODESPA, Energy4Impact, Entrepreneurs du Monde, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Institute Pasteur, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), International Potato Center (CIP), International Water Association, Solar Electric Light Fund, United Nations Development Program Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP) and Welfare Association.

Under the OFID’s private sector facility, five financing facilities totaling $114 million were approved. Two will help enhance the energy sectors in Armenia and Jordan; two others will support financial institutions in Cambodia and Nicaragua in expanding their lending to micro-, small-and medium-sized enterprises.

The facility will also help strengthen the capital base of the Nicaraguan institution. Also approved was a loan to help expand cement production in Pakistan. Under OFID’s trade finance operations, $10 million was approved to support international trade activities in Turkey.