The OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund) has committed $2 million in financing in a cooperation agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The financing, under the OPEC Fund and the EBRD Project Preparation Service signed last week, will support “development and transition” in countries of shared operations between the two lenders, the Fund said. ‘OPEC in a press release on Friday. The facility will cover upfront project costs and help make projects eligible for funding.
The $2 million will go toward “identification, design and development of joint projects,” the announcement said.
The OPEC Fund and EBRD have committed to building “a strong portfolio of profitable projects through better project preparation and technical assistance,” the development lender funded by members of the namesake oil group said.
Fuad Albassam, Deputy Director General of the OPEC Fund, commented: “The OPEC Fund and the EBRD are strongly aligned in priority areas such as climate action and food security.”
The OPEC Fund said it has already partnered with the EBRD on a $50 million trade finance risk-sharing mechanism and the two have co-financed more than 20 projects in the public and private sectors.
“Although endowed with different mandates, the OPEC Fund and the EBRD share many complementary activities and the goal of improving people’s lives,” the OPEC Fund said. “Both lenders are active in countries in North Africa and the Middle East, and also cooperate in Central Asia.”
The signing of the agreement with the EBRD took place during the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington from 10 to 16 April.
Earlier, the OPEC Fund announced a pact with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to boost cooperation to help secure energy access and promote the energy transition.
Simultaneously, they signed a $1.5 million technical support grant agreement for the National Clean Cooking Transition Program in Madagascar, funded by the OPEC Fund.
“The OPEC Fund grant will fund detailed studies and pilot projects as part of Madagascar’s clean kitchen transition program, which the OPEC Fund is financing with a $35 million loan,” said the OPEC Fund in a press release on April 11. the partners will also develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for the implementation and measurement of development results, which can be replicated in other countries for similar projects”.
In addition to the agreements with the EBRD and UNIDO, the OPEC Fund has announced financing for seven countries this year.
He has pledged 100 million dollars for the sustainable development and fiscal sustainability of Paraguay. “Policy actions include, among others, the approval of a national electric mobility strategy, the update of the Nationally Determined Contributions of the Paris Agreement and measures to protect water resources,” the Fund said of OPEC in a statement on April 5.
“Fiscal sustainability involves political actions focused on public spending and concrete actions to promote private financing of public works.”
Meanwhile, a $38 million loan to Unique Meghnaghat Power Limited is financing the construction and operation of a 584 megawatt gas-fired combined cycle power plant in Bangladesh, it said in a separate announcement on April 5.
Another energy project funded under two $20 million loan agreements with Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power supports the construction and operation of two wind mills with a combined capacity of 1,000 MW in the region of Bukhara of Uzbekistan.
“To date, the OPEC Fund has provided nearly $600 million in public and private sector financing in support of Uzbekistan’s sustainable growth agenda in line with its country partnership strategy ” he said on April 4.
In March, the OPEC Fund said it had committed more than $300 million in climate-related financing to Armenia ($54.96 million), Colombia ($150 million), India ( $100 million) and Seychelles ($20 million).
The OPEC Fund’s Climate Action Plan, launched in September 2022, promises to increase climate finance to 25% of its entire loan portfolio by 2025 and 40% by 2030.
The agency, which runs on voluntary capital contributions from members, said that by September 2022 the share of climate finance in its approved projects was 20 percent.
In January, the OPEC Fund said it had raised $1 billion of its first bond to finance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
To contact the author, please send an email jov.onsat@gmail.com
