Islamic Development Bank joins efforts to alleviate food crisis
19 June 2008
Jeddah-based development institution announces $1.5 billion contribution toward food security programs in its member countries.
The Board of Governors at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) have pledged $1.5 billion toward addressing the food crisis in its poorest member countries. The package, known as the Jeddah Declaration, will be disbursed over a 5 year period and will include short, medium, and long-term programs to deal with the crisis.
United Nations officials welcomed the initiative announced during the recent World Food Summit in Rome, while recognizing that much still needs to be done in order to meet the challenge of the crisis.
While the volume of IsDB lending in its Muslim country members pales in comparison to other IFIs, its portfolio has grown significantly over the last five years, a trend which many expect to continue. The Bank is also presenting itself as a major player in world humanitarian crises including the current food crisis. Whether its proposed programs to combat this crisis will bear the desired fruits or not will be hard to judge. In comparison to the other IFIs, the IDB is considerably less transparent, making it difficult to assess the impact of its programs on the poor.
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