Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16
By Taleh Mursagulov - Trend:
Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group has an overall portfolio of about $1.1 billion in Azerbaijan, Regional Director of the IsDB Group Regional Hub for Turkey Saleh Jelassi said in an interview with Trend and Azernews.
The portfolio comprises $947 million of financing by IsDB, $52 million of trade financing by ITFC (International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, an IsDB Group international trade financing arm) and $130 million of ICD/UIF financing, he noted.
ICD (Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector) is IsDB Group’s private sector development arm, he added.
IsDB’s Ordinary Capital Resources (OCR) development portfolio in Azerbaijan consists of 35 operations with approvals of $945 million (excluding cancelled operations), which include 31 completed operations worth $676 million and 2 active projects (4 operations) worth $266 million, he said.
The largest portion of IsDB development operations in Azerbaijan is in the energy sector (53 percent), followed by water and sanitation (27 percent) and agriculture (13 percent), he noted.
“In line with IsDB Group’s overarching emphasis on supporting economic and social infrastructure in its member countries, IsDB is currently providing support to Azerbaijan’s National Water Supply and Sanitation Program in six regions through a project worth $200 million,” he said. “This project aims to provide clean and safe drinking water and sewerage connections to more than 320,000 inhabitants (including refugees and IDPs) in the six regions by constructing new water and wastewater treatment plants and installation of new water distribution networks and sewerage collection systems.”
IsDB is also implementing an Integrated Rural Development Project with an approved amount of $66 million to support reduction in rural poverty in Agdash, Yevlakh, Sheki and Oghuz districts through increased food security and enhanced income earning opportunities for small farmers, he noted.
“The project is assisting the farmers in achieving better productivity and profitability as well as environmental sustainability from both irrigated and rainfed crop production and livestock,” he said.
In January 2017, IsDB also signed a Technical Assistance Grant Agreement with Azerbaijan for development of legal and regulatory framework for Islamic finance, which marks a key milestone for the development of Islamic finance in the country, he added.
“Our private sector arm, ICD, has also recently finalized a Technical Assistance to the Port of Baku for preparation of a feasibility study to construct a grain terminal,” he said.
Azerbaijan joined IsDB in 1992.
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