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OPEC Fund Governing Board holds 113th Session
122/2005 December 20, 2005, Vienna, Austria
Press inquiries:
The Governing Board of the OPEC Fund for International Development today convened its 113th Session in Vienna, Austria.
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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 October 2005, US$5,499.39 million had been approved in loans to the public sector and US$3,832.41 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 996. 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 84 operations had been approved under the Fund’s Private Sector Facility. As of the end of October 2005, cumulative commitments through this window totaled US$422.0 million.
In addition, the Fund has approved a total of 750 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 October 2005, amounted to US$343.18 million, of which US$238.0 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.
- In today’s session, the Board approved 11 public sector project loans worth US$122.29 million and detailed as follows:
Data Summary:
Country: Project: Amount
(US$ million)Angola Secondary Education Quality Reinforcement 9.00 Belize Southside Poverty Alleviation 6.00 Bolivia National Universities Rehabilitation and Modernization 10.70 Colombia Technical and Technological Education Strengthening 10.00 Egypt Cairo West Power Plant 23.43 Jordan Children’s Hospital at King Hussein Medical City 10.00 Morocco Eastern Middle Atlas Mountain Rural Development
9.81 Pakistan Punjab Railway Development 10.00 Sri Lanka National Highways Sector 8.00 Tajikistan Dangara General Hospital 5.35 Tunisia Natural Gas Network Distribution Development 20.00 TOTAL 122.29 - The Board also approved five grants directed at financing activities in the education, health and water supply and sewerage sectors. They total US$3.45 million (see press releases no. 123/2005-127/2005) and are described below:
- US$300,000 to help provide modern water supply and sanitation facilities in Bhutanese schools;
- US$400,000 million in support of an initiative to maintain excellence in cancer care in Jordan and the Middle East;
- US$400,000 to help strengthen national health systems in least-developed Arab countries;
- US$350,000 to co-finance improvements in infrastructure and quality of primary education in Mauritania; and
- US$2 million for a joint OPEC Fund/UNODC project to provide HIV/AIDS prevention and care services among vulnerable groups in Central Asia; to be drawn from the HIV/AIDS Special Grant Account.
- The Board also discussed a number of issues relating to the Fund's Private Sector Facility and considered several pipeline proposals.
- Also in this Session: the Board reviewed financial and budget matters and approved the administrative budget for 2006; studied a report on the implementation of the Corporate Plan and noted public sector operations under active consideration.
- The next Governing Board Session will take place in Vienna, Austria on March 14, 2006.
All of the above loans have a maturity of 20 years, including a grace period of five years, and the majority carries interest at rates ranging from 1% to 3.5%.
The projects will be cofinanced with the governments of the beneficiary countries and with other donors including four OPEC aid institutions – the Abu Dhabi Fund, the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development, the Islamic Development Bank and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. Other contributors include the Andean Development Corporation, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Asian Development Bank.