Jeddah, KSA, 26.12.2012 – At its 287th session which ended Sunday, the Board of Executive Directors of the Islamic Development Bank resolved to submit a memorandum on the fifth general increase in the Bank’s authorized and subscribed capital to the annual meeting of the IDB Board of Governors scheduled to take place in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, during 21-22 May 2013. The decision comes in the wake of recommendations by the 4th Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit Conference in Makkah last
August calling for an increase in the IDB capital to enable it to bring comprehensive development in member countries and Muslim communities in non-member countries.
The session also decided to recommend to the Board of Governors annual meeting a proposal to earmark an amount for the promotion of the Islamic financial services industry so that it could develop means and thus help to meet the rising demand for technical assistance, capacity building, promote Islamic microfinance, develop takaful (Islamic mutual insurance system), awkaf (Islamic endowments) and management of zakat (a certain portion of accrued wealth donated to the poor), etc.
The meeting, chaired by Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President, IDB Group, approved US$ 56 million to finance new development projects in member countries namely; US$ 31 million for the development of the Al-Azhar University Specialized Hospital Project in Egypt, US$ 15 million for Women Entrepreneurship Development and Youth Employment Support in Senegal, and US$ 9 million for Tovegbame Bridge Project in Benin. It also approved US$ 600,000 in grants for three educational projects in Muslim
communities in non-member countries, namely, Austria, New Zealand and India. The Board also took note of an amount of US$ 30.5 million (including a grant of US$ 330,000 approved earlier) by the IDB President for financing the bilingual education program in three states in Nigeria.