OPEC Fund approves US$75m of new funding for developing countries

Vienna, Austria, July 28, 2020. The OPEC Fund has approved US$75 million to support socio-economic development and COVID-19 recovery efforts in several developing countries. 

A US$15m public sector loan to Rwanda will support businesses in the sectors most affected by COVID-19 and help safeguard development gains made in the past two decades. The facility will enable the restructuring of existing bank loans to tourism-related businesses through the National Bank of Rwanda, and provide lines of credit to large corporates, MSMEs, and savings and credit cooperatives. It will also support a Business Development Fund for vulnerable people engaged in informal work.

Also approved was US$60 million under the OPEC Fund’s Private Sector and Trade Finance Facility. The financing will support SMEs in Asia and Latin America as they respond to the impact of COVID-19. One loan will also strengthen agricultural supply chains – which have been especially hard hit by the pandemic – in African countries.   

OPEC Fund Director-General Dr Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said: “We are mobilizing both public and private sector development finance solutions to help our partner countries respond to the pandemic and meet their needs across different segments of their economies. It is important to be flexible and move quickly in response to developing country needs, now more than ever.”

The OPEC Fund has dedicated US$1 billion to collective and coordinated COVID-19-related financial assistance for developing countries.

About the OPEC Fund 
The OPEC Fund is the development finance institution established by the Member States of OPEC in 1976 as a channel of aid to developing countries. The OPEC Fund works in cooperation with developing country partners and the international donor community to stimulate economic growth and alleviate poverty in all disadvantaged regions of the world. It does this by providing financing to build essential infrastructure, strengthen social services and promote productivity, competitiveness and trade. The OPEC Fund's work is people-centered, focusing on projects that meet basic needs – such as food, energy, infrastructure, employment (particularly relating to MSMEs), clean water and sanitation, healthcare and education. The OPEC Fund aims to encourage self-reliance and inspire hope for the future.