The OPEC Fund joins DFI partnership to mobilize billions of dollars in response to COVID-19

Vienna, Austria, May 18, 2020. The OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) has joined a group of more than 25 development finance institutions (DFIs) scaling up cooperation in response to COVID-19. The group has committed to providing and mobilizing billions of dollars of funding to support the private sector in delivering critical healthcare supplies, ensuring micro, small, and medium-sized businesses can access capital, and strengthening global supply chains to sustain millions of workers in developing countries.  

The group will scale-up long-term capital to support the most affected sectors in developing countries including transportation, tourism, food and logistics, while remaining focused on gender and climate goals. A joint statement sets out how the DFIs have “an important role to play by responding quickly and flexibly to support the private sector in developing countries through the crisis”. It explains how the group is committed to a collaborative course of action in response to the crisis that will leverage their different strengths and geographies. 

OPEC Fund Director-General Dr Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said: “The OPEC Fund is rising to the challenge, along with its development partners, to scale-up development cooperation in response to COVID-19. This is a clear demonstration of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17 in action, which calls for ‘partnerships for the global goals’. The full force of our public and private sector operations will be brought to bear against the impact of COVID-19. Working with our partners, we will ensure development finance is flexible and available quickly to those who need it most.”  

About the OPEC Fund
The OPEC Fund is a development finance institution established by the member states of OPEC in 1976. 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.