The OPEC Fund for International Development expanded its new development commitments to $1.7 billion last year.
The Fund contributed to financing 55 projects around the world, including the areas of addressing the effects of climate change and energy transition, supporting development, economic, social and climate resilience, creating job opportunities, and promoting food security and sustainable growth.
The statement issued by the Fund’s headquarters in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on the occasion of the celebration of the 48th anniversary of the founding of the OPEC Fund, indicated an increase in the Fund’s investments in supporting development, achieving a new record for financing development projects of $1.7 billion last year, and working to achieve the goal of The 2030 Fund, which is to allocate 40 percent of total new financing to climate action.
Abdul Hamid Al Khalifa, Director General of the OPEC Fund, said: The impact of the OPEC Fund increased in 2023 by providing development support in a global environment full of challenges.
He pointed to the Fund's success in developing the lending program in all fields in response to the strong demand from partner countries, the Fund's success in raising additional funds from capital markets, and benefiting from the Fund's partnerships with multilateral development banks and development finance institutions in mobilizing support for development.
The statement explained that the fund achieved strong results in 2023, and revealed that the fund’s investments were distributed by 42 percent in Africa, 20 percent in the Middle East and North Africa, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean by 20 percent, and Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific 18. percent, through public and private sector lending, trade financing, and grants.
