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OFID releases US$145 million in fresh financing for development

PR 30/2008 October 9, Vienna, Austria
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New financing totalingUS$145.06 million has been approved at the 124th Session of the Governing Board of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), which held yesterday in Vienna, Austria. The funds will support 12 projects in needy countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. The latest batch of loans, commented Mr. Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, OFID Director-General, would target a number of “key priority areas”, such as improving important transportation links, helping boost food security and providing families with a reliable source of electrical power. These needs were what the beneficiary countries themselves deemed most crucial, stated the Director-General, as OFID always “responds to governments’ choices, rather than imposing its own.”

The 12 public sector loans comprise:

Country

Project

Amount

(US$ mil.)

Botswana

Kasane Airport

10.00

Burkina Faso

Koudougou-Dedougou Road

8.00

Cote D’Ivoire

Singrobo-Yamoussoukro Road (additional loan)

8.00

Djibouti

Boulaos Power Plant Rehabilitation Phase III (€8.5 million)

12.50

Ghana

Cancer Diseases Hospitals

7.50

India

Orissa Integrated Irrigated Agriculture and Water Management

30.00

Jamaica

Bogue Road Improvement

20.00

Mozambique

Save Valley Irrigation Development

7.96

Niger

Kandadji Dam

15.00

Panama

Participation Development and Rural Modernization

1.80

Sudan

Western Sudan Resources Management Program

8.60

Turkey

Samsun Light Rail Transport System II

15.70

Total

 

145.06

Also approved were three grants totaling US$2.9 million. One will support construction of a health center in Jordan; another will support a capacity-boosting initiative for an Arab NGO, while another will provide assistance to 20 civil society organizations in Palestine (see separate press release 31/2008).

Since its inception, OFID has provided close to US$9.9 billion in much-needed concessional development financing to 121 developing countries.