Press Release

OPEC Fund Governing Board holds 112th Session

102/2005 September 20, 2005, Vienna, Austria
Press inquiries:

The Governing Board of the OPEC Fund for International Development today convened its 112th Session in Vienna, Austria.

1. Following adoption of the meeting’s agenda, the Director-General of the Fund, Mr. Suleiman J. Al-Herbish , reporting to the Board on the Fund’s activities, indicated that on a cumulative basis, and as of the end of July 2005, US$5,419.49 million had been approved in loans to the public sector and US$3,783.79 million disbursed. These loans, which were extended for project and program financing and balance of payments support, as well as within the framework of the HIPC Initiative, total 984. All major economic and social sectors have benefited from the Fund’s assistance, including agriculture, transportation, health, education, water supply and sewerage, industry, energy, etc.

   The Director-General further indicated that a total of 76 operations had been approved under the Fund’s Private Sector Facility. As of the end of July 2005, cumulative commitments through this window totaled US$383.3 million.

   In addition, the Fund has approved a total of 733 grants in support of various activities in the areas of technical assistance, food aid, emergency relief and research. Cumulative grant commitments, as of the end of July 2005, amounted to US$335.41 million, of which US$234.81 million has been disbursed. Moreover, the Fund has contributed, in grant form, substantial amounts to the resources of other international development institutions benefiting the South; these contributions total US$971.8 million, most of which has been disbursed. To date, the Fund has provided financial assistance to 119 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Europe.

2. In today’s session, the Board approved seven public sector project loans worth US$43.12 million and detailed as follows:
   

   Data Summary:

   Country:	Project:	Amount (US$ million)
   Burkina Faso	Sustainable Rural Development	2.89
   Cameroon	Foumban-Manki Road	5.49
   Cape Verde	Road Sector Support	4.74
   Ghana	Second Rural Health Services	8.5
   Guatemala	The Central and Eastern Regions Rural Development	11.0
   Kenya	Garissa Sewerage	4.0
   Madagascar	Andekaleka Hydroelectric (Phase II)	6.5
   TOTAL		43.12

All of the above loans have a maturity of 20 years, including a grace period of five years, and carry interest at rates ranging from 1% to 2.75%.

The projects will be cofinanced with the governments of the beneficiary countries and with other donors including three OPEC aid institutions – the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, the Islamic Development Bank and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. Other contributors include the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the West African Development Bank, the Global Environment Facility, the International Development Association and the Millennium Challenge Committee.

3. The Board also approved four grants directed at financing activities in the social, health and water supply and sewerage sectors. They total US$4.85 million (see press releases no. 103/2005-106/2005) and are described below:
• US$2.5 million to provide assistance to an urgent housing program for the poor and disabled; to be drawn from the Special Grant Account for Palestine;
• US$1.5 million for a joint OPEC Fund/UNHCR project to provide HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services to refugees in five central African countries; to be drawn from the HIV/AIDS Special Grant Account;
• US$500,000 to support an eLearning health initiative in the Gambia and Ghana; and
• US$350,000 to help finance a safe water and sanitation scheme for marginalized communities in Nepal.
4. The Board also discussed the Fund’s Private Sector Facility and considered a number of pipeline proposals.
5. Within the context of the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, the Board approved the delivery of debt relief to Mali and debt relief topping-up for Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Niger.
6. Also in this Session: the Board reviewed financial matters; studied a report on implementation modalities of the Special Grant Account for Emergency Relief Operations; examined a progress report on ongoing grants and noted public sector operations under active consideration.
7. The next Governing Board Session will take place in Vienna, Austria on December 20, 2005.