OFID signs loan agreements with Burundi and Zimbabwe

Vienna, Austria, August 17, 2016. The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) has signed two new loan agreements with partner countries Burundi and Zimbabwe. The co-financed projects will help alleviate poverty and raise living standards among the beneficiary populations.

The loan to Burundi totalling US$6m will co-finance the Agriculture Value Chain Development Program - Phase II. The project will develop and improve crop and livestock production activities and strengthen community-based initiatives, and in turn enhance food security and incomes for over 200,000 people.

OFID Director-General Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, along with HE Domitien Ndihokubwayo, Minister of Finance, Budget and Privatization of Burundi, signed the agreement.

OFID’s first approval to Burundi was balance of payments support in 1976. Subsequent public sector loans and grants of nearly US$192m have been approved in the areas of agriculture, education, energy, health, transportation, and water supply and sanitation, among others.

The loan to Zimbabwe is in support of the Poverty Alleviation Project for the amount of US$7.6m. The project will carry out activities in three provinces populated by around 3.8 million people. These include awareness campaigns to sensitize communities and stakeholders, community support initiatives to identify demand-driven sub-projects and farm demonstration exercises to improve livestock productivity and support to savings and credit cooperatives.

Signing the agreement were Mr Al-Herbish and Hon. Patrick Anthony Chinamasa, Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe and OFID’s cooperation began in 1981. Since then, over US$74m in public sector loans and grants have been approved in support of the country’s agriculture, education, energy, health, industry, transportation sectors.