JEDDAH, 21 January 2007 — The Islamic Development Bank’s (IDB) recently approved a cooperation program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for promoting Islamic banking and finance.
An official statement issued after the board of executive directors’ meeting added that $600,000 has been allocated to that effect.
IDB President Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, who chaired the meeting, said the board had considered many issues including prospects of establishing regional infrastructure funds for supporting infrastructure projects in member countries, with a catalytic role for IDB in rallying financiers for those funds.
He said the bank would give $80 million for Mingerchaur Hydropower (Phase 2) in Azerbaijan, $9.7 million additional finance for Nigeria’s National Program for Food Security, $27.1 million a 60 MW Power Plant in Dakar, Senegal, $38.8 million for Singrobo-Ymoussokro Highway Project in Cote d’Ivoire and $3 million for the Khartoum Water Treatment Plant Project. The board also approved $446.3 million toward project financing and trade operations and agreed to finance new development projects in Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan, the statement said.
“The board also approved finance for three banks in Uzbekistan and technical assistance for development projects in Indonesia, Lebanon, Niger and Morocco,” aside from educational and health projects of Muslim communities in India, Somalia and the Central African Republic.
IDB’s Waqaf Fund would also provide $379,000 for building a secondary school in Mbaiki Town, the Central African Republic, $320,000 for a boarding school in Mogadishu, Somalia, among others.