According to the IDB, this funding will enhance building institutional capacity of those countries either by supporting training programs that meets labor market needs, or by supporting microfinance institutions (MFIs), vocational training, and lines of financing for small and medium enterprises. On May 9-10, the IDB even organized an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) at its headquarters in Jeddah focusing on "unemployment in IDB member countries in the post crisis world" and discussing "the causes and consequences of the unemployment crisis, capability enhancement, public-private partnership for generating employment opportunities and the role of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and Microfinance in generating employment opportunities."

The reality however is that the $250 million allocated for the youth employment generation program is extra money which is not coming from the IDB ordinary resources but has to be raised separately. Market sources stressed that the raising and allocation of the funds "have not quite been worked out. The implications of additionality were not thought through. The funds were approved in a big hurry, possibly in preparation for the upcoming 36th IDB Board of Governors Annual Meeting in Jeddah at the end of June 2011."

The funds were originally requested by the new interim governments of Egypt and Tunisia, and by Morocco - the three countries at the forefront of the so-called “Arab Spring”. "Nothing has been disbursed thus far. The IDB will have to be liberal to be practical. The employment generation programs initially will probably have to be financed from current liquidity or IDB equity," stressed one Islamic banker in the GCC.

The problem is how to define employment. All the three countries are faced with serious budget deficits. Will this funding be channeled through central government allocations or through the preferred IDB route into identified projects or programs very often coordinated and managed by NGOs (non-governmental organizations)? Even the World Bank and the African Development Bank have similar issues relating to definitions and disbursement.

The pressure is on the IDB to start disbursement of the funds because of the urgent problem of youth unemployment in these countries. Usually the drawdown period is up to three years which is preceded by another three years typically to identify and research projects. This six year gestation for the funds is simply unrealistic because of the urgency of the situation.

As such the IDB will have to fast-track disbursements through expediting its internal decision-making processes. The youth in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco simply cannot afford to wait another six years for any chance to get on the employment ladder.