Egypt 3rd of top 10 beneficiaries from IsDB: Minister

CAIRO - 5 January 2021: Egypt is third of top 10 countries most benefiting from funds of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, with 12.7 billion dollars. 

The funds were received in the period between August 2018 and December 2020, said Planning Minister Hala el Saeid in a statement Tuesday. 
 

She made it clear that 238 projects worth $12.7 billion have already been endorsed, while 287 others have been completed at a total value of $9.7 billion.
 

Fifty-one more ventures worth three billion dollars are still in the pipeline, Saeid added. 
 

The minister said that Egypt is one of the founders of the IsDB and maintains a permanent seat at the council of executive directors. 
 

Egypt comes seventh in terms of countries contributing to the IsDB and is the biggest shareholding state at the bank with 357,965 shares; i.e. 7.07 percent of the total, she made it clear. 
 

Saeid put the value of Egypt’s subscribed share capital at the IsDB at five billion dollars.
 

During two years of cooperation, Egypt and the IsDB have signed an agreement to establish an IsDB representation office in Cairo to make work easier between the Group and Egyptian, Arab and African businesspeople, the minister said. The office should also manage and follow-up projects implemented in Egypt, she added. 
 

A three-year strategic cooperation deal has been sealed between the two sides, under which the IsDB should offer about three billion dollars in funding of a number of development projects to be implemented between 2019 and 2021, Saeid said. 
 

A scientific contest, “Transformers Roadshow”, was held for the first time in Cairo in November 2019, which came as part of activities meant to support science, technology and innovation initiatives in Egypt, according to the minister. 
 

Two framework agreements have been signed between Egypt and the IsDB to supply the Arab country with strategic commodities, Saeid said.
 

She touched upon coordination with the Egyptian Banking Institute (EBI) to offer training to 44 employees of the Supply Ministry and the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) as part of an embedded business solutions program. 
 

The IsDB is a multilateral development finance institution that is focused on Islamic finance and is located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
 

It was founded in 1973 by the finance ministers at the first Organization of the Islamic Conference (now called the Organization of Islamic Cooperation), and began its activities in April 1975.
 

In May 2013, the IsDB tripled its authorized capital to 150 billion dollars to better serve Muslims in member and non-member countries.
 

The Bank has received credit ratings of AAA from Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch.
 

The IsDB is an observer at the United Nations General Assembly.