Hassan Cheruppa Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – The Board of Governors of the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) decided on Wednesday to more than triple its capital from $45 billion to $150 billion. Addressing a press conference at the end of the 38th annual session of the board in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, IDB President Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Ali said that the meeting decided to temporarily suspend the membership of Syria. The two-day session, opened by Tajikistan President Emomalii Rahmon on Tuesday, also approved financing for several multi-million development projects in many member and non-member countries. Explaining the final communique of the meeting, Dr. Ali said that the Board of Governors' decision to suspend Syria was taken in line with the decision of the 4th Extraordinary Islamic Summit held in Makkah in August 2012. “The session has instructed the Bank's Council of Executive Directors to look into extending humanitarian assistance to the Syrian refugees affected by the war. The bank will take part in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Syria after the end of the current conflict,” he said. Dr. Ali said the Board approved to increase the Bank's authorized capital more than three times from 30 billion Islamic dinars ($45 billion) to 100 billion Islamic dinars (about $150 billion). The Bank's subscribed capital has been increased from 18 billion Islamic dinars ($27 billion) to 50 billion Islamic dinars ($75 billion). “This reflects the Bank's strong balance sheet as well as the growing economic and developmental needs of its 56 member countries.” According to Dr. Ali, the board's decision to increase the capital was in accordance with the resolutions adopted by the 3rd and 4th Extraordinary Islamic Summits held in Makkah in December 2005 and August 2012 that called for a significant increase in the Bank's capital to meet the growing developmental requirements of the member states. The Bank increased its capital from $22.5 billion to $45 billion after the Makkah Summit in 2005. Dr. Ali said the meeting has approved issuing Islamic bonds worth $1 billion through the capital markets of London and Malaysia. More than 730 delegates from 56 member states and 68 international financial institutes attended the IDB meeting. Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf, headed the Saudi delegation to the meeting. At the concluding session, 11 agreements have been signed to finance development projects in 11 member countries in addition to allocating $235.9 million for Kosovo. The agreements included loans worth $84.4 million for Senegal, $39.7 million for Uganda, and $10 million for Tajikistan.
The 290th session of IDB's Board of Executive Directors approved Sunday the Bank's proposal to extend a total of $461.7 million to finance various development projects in member states as well as to Muslim communities in non-member states. Continued on P13 These included $205 million for social development projects in Indonesia, $170 million for strengthening airlines of Uzbekistan, $132 million for rural development projects in Guinea, $32 million for a road project in Mauritania, and $20 million each for a road project in Kosovo and for renovation Tsunami-devastated ports in Maldives respectively. Founded in 1973 in Jeddah, the bank's purpose is to foster the economic development and social progress of member countries and Muslim communities in accordance with the principles of Shariah. It aspires to become a global development bank by 2019 (1440 H), contributing substantially to achieve the comprehensive development of the Islamic world with a focus on the human face of the Islamic economy and regain its glory. Saudi Arabia holds the largest stake (23.6%) in IDB, which is a specialized institution of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
