Islamic Development Bank Group Provides US$12.2 Billion in Development Assistance, Says Annual Report

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 22, 2017 (Newswire.com) - Jeddah, May 15, 2017

Islamic Development Bank Group provides US$12.2 billion in development assistance, says annual report

• Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Turkmenistan emerge as top five beneficiaries
• ​Infrastructure, agriculture, health, education account for largest share of net approvals

Jeddah, May 15, 2017: The latest 2016 Annual Report of the Islamic Development Bank shows that in fourteen and half months (14 October 2015 to 31 December 2016), the Bank Group approved development assistance to the value of US$12.2 billion for 255 operations.

The report, the first since it changed to Solar Hijra calendar in 2015, covers a transition period of two and half months and the full year of 2016.

Launching the report, Dr. Bandar M. H. Hajjar, President of the Islamic Development Bank Group, said: “We live in a world in which our member countries are constantly facing multiple and complicated challenges. As a unique south-south development financial institution whose main mandate is to finance development activities in core economic sectors of member countries as well as Muslim communities in non-member countries in general, the IDB Group has since its inception in 1975 continued to offer assistance in a wide range of sectors, mainly infrastructure, agriculture, health and education. This assistance is supporting member countries to implement global initiatives as well as achieve priority goals in their national development plans.”

According to the annual report, the top five recipients of IDB Group financing were Turkey (US$1.7 billion or 13.5 percent of the approvals during the period under review); Indonesia (US$995.3 million or 8.2 percent); Pakistan (US$950.5 million or 7.8 percent), Egypt (US$942.2 million or 7.7 percent), and Turkmenistan (US$700 million or 5.7 percent).

Region-wise, all the four regions in which the 57 member countries of the IDB are grouped received fairly equal distribution of approvals, with both Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe and Central Asia regions each getting 25.3 percent of the Group approvals (or US$3.1 billion). Middle East and North Africa region received 25 percent (US$3.05 billion), and Asia and Latin America region gained the remaining 22.7 percent (US$2.8 billion).

The report showed that IDB’s Ordinary Capital Resources accounted for the largest share of the Group’s total approvals at 55.5 percent (US$6.8 billion). This was followed by the activities of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) at 36.7 percent  (US$4.5 billion).

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) accounted for US$819.4 million, representing 6.7 percent, while Awqaf Property Investment Fund and Unit Investment Fund accounted for 0.5 percent each respectively.

In addition, the insurance commitments of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) totaled $4.8 billion in 2016 while its business insurance operations amounted to $8.6 billion.

Under the IDB’s Ordinary Capital Resources approvals, infrastructure accounted for the largest share at 67.8 percent of the net approvals, followed by agriculture at 19.8 percent, health at 6.6 percent, education at 4.6 percent, and other sectors at 1.3 percent.

The report pointed out that since the IDB’s inception until the end of 2016, the IDB Group net approvals reached US$124.3 billion for 8,196 operations. It also showed that IDB Group’s disbursements reached US$79.5 billion while repayments amounted to US$58.5 billion, resulting in net resource transfer of US$21.0 billion.

As part of its overall objectives of fostering economic development and social progress, Islamic Development Bank is focused on financing of projects and programmes in both public and private sectors in member countries. It also offers technical assistance for capacity building and project preparation, and supports initiatives that encourage economic cooperation among member countries.

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Source: The Islamic Development Bank