OFID Unveils Fresh Development Funding

The headquarters of the OPEC Fund for International Development in Vienna, Austria. OFID has announced new development funding worth $68.75 million. Photo by: Niels Elgaard Larsen

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ Fund for International Development has announced $68.75 million in new development aid for several projects across Africa, Asia and Latin America. 

The funding, which was agreed at OFID’s 134th session, includes development financing worth $65 million:

- $20 million for the construction or rehabilitation of public utilities in Armenia.

- $8 million for the construction of the Bujumbura-Nyamitanga road in Burundi.

- $15 million to ease rural poverty in El Salvador.

- $12 million to upgrade roads in the Houaphanh province in Laos.

- $10 million to expand Mali’s sugar production capacity.

Four grants worth a total of $3.75 million were also approved during the meeting. These include:

- $1.5 million for developing microbial gels for preventing HIV transmission. 

- $1.5 million for 20 Palestinian civil society organizations focused on agriculture, community development, education and health.

- $450,000 for a cancer control program of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vietnam. 

- $300,000 for UNICEF’s school hygiene and sanitation initiative in Tanzania. 

OFID has so far provided more than $13 billion in concessional development financing to 129 developing countries since its inception in 1977.

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