{"id":28377,"date":"2023-04-13T10:00:01","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T10:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/opec-funds-quiet-offensive-in-africa"},"modified":"2023-04-13T10:32:36","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T10:32:36","slug":"opec-funds-quiet-offensive-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/opec-funds-quiet-offensive-in-africa","title":{"rendered":"OPEC Fund\u2019s quiet offensive in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span><\/a>Little known to the public, the OPEC Fund for International Development has devoted almost half of its resources to the continent.<\/p>\n

It has been reinforcing its impact by targeting food security and climate change. Last December, the oil cartel\u2019s development fund approved $280m in loans to the continent \u2013 from Co\u0302te d\u2019Ivoire ($75m) to Benin ($14m).<\/p>\n

In early February, a second $50m contribution to the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) \u2013 the institution dedicated to supporting the continent\u2019s infrastructure \u2013 was announced, after a loan for the same amount was approved in early 2021.<\/p>\n

Created in 1976, the Fund is run by 12 oil-producing countries, all of which are members of OPEC except Ecuador and Indonesia. Historically, it only operates outside the borders of its member countries, the most important of which are Saudi Arabia (35% of the capital), Venezuela (16%) and Kuwait (12.8%).<\/p>\n

Its African shareholders are Nigeria (8.6%), Libya (6.2%), Algeria (3.5%) and Gabon (0.2%). De facto, the continent has a particularly high share of the OPEC Fund\u2019s resource allocations.<\/p>\n

\u201cExposure to African countries stood at $2.86bn in September 2022, compared to $2.56bn (an increase of $300m) in December 2021,\u201d the multilateral development finance institution, which \u2013 like OPEC \u2013 is based in Vienna, told us.<\/p>\n

Since its inception, the OPEC Fund has provided \u201ca total of $23bn for more than 4,000 projects worldwide; 45% of this overall financing has been provided to African countries, with the figure standing at $10.4bn,\u201d it said. At the end of September, Egypt ($328m in loans) and Morocco ($230m) were its leading operational countries on the continent.<\/p>\n

The OPEC Fund has been led since November 2018 by Saudi Abdulhamid Alkhalifa, who holds a PhD in economics from Florida\u2019s University of Miami and went on to the World Bank before becoming the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund\u2019s number two.<\/p>\n

Under his leadership, the financial institution has become increasingly ambitious. In 2019, its shareholders approved the use of capital market financing.<\/p>\n

The institution was heavily involved in the response to the Covid-19 crisis, approving a $1bn budgetary envelope in April 2020 and allocating it to some 20 projects and countries (including Egypt, Morocco, Benin, and notably on a pan-African scale via a partnership with Afreximbank).<\/p>\n

Although it is run by hydrocarbon-rich countries, in recent years the Fund has been particularly active in financing efforts to curb climate change. In 2022, it approved a $1bn facility to address the effects on global food supplies and prices resulting from the crisis in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

It has also committed $1bn \u201cto address imminent food security needs in partner countries\u201d, according to Standard & Poor\u2019s (S&P). Its Climate Change Action Plan includes $5bn for these efforts, \u201cin addition to its regular energy-related lending\u201d, says the same source.<\/p>\n

According to the strategic information provided to the rating agencies, as much as 15% of the new commitments will be for the continent, financed from a much larger resource envelope, thanks to funds mobilised in the markets.<\/p>\n

The Fund\u2019s commitments are expected to grow at an average annual rate of 7%, up from 4.5% in recent years. According to S&P, \u201cparticular attention\u201d will be paid to transport, agriculture, energy, trade finance, private sector development, and banking and financial services.<\/p>\n

To date, the institution has financed its operations solely from its own funds, a rare occurrence in the development world. As a result, its debt-to-equity ratio on 30 September 2022 was exactly 0%.<\/p>\n

According to S&P, \u201cits risk-adjusted capital ratio (CAR) was 81%,\u201d based on figures from early November. \u201cThe OPEC Fund currently has no funding gap, with assets outnumbering liabilities by 80 to 1,\u201d the rating agency said in January.<\/p>\n

This situation is expected to change as the objectives laid out in the institution\u2019s development plan is realised. In January, the Bank raised its first benchmark loan of $1bn on the markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect debt growth to be gradual and the debt-to-equity ratio to remain significantly below the 150% limit over the medium term,\u201d says the rating agency.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mauritius<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. Little known to the public, the OPEC Fund for International Development has devoted almost half of its resources to the continent. It has been reinforcing its impact by targeting food security and climate change. Last December, the oil cartel\u2019s development fund approved $280m in loans to the continent \u2013 from Co\u0302te d\u2019Ivoire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":28376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[242,233,245,241],"class_list":["post-28377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mauritius","tag-mauritius"],"yoast_head":"\nOPEC Fund\u2019s quiet offensive in Africa - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Little known to the public, the OPEC Fund for International Development has devoted almost h ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/opec-funds-quiet-offensive-in-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"OPEC Fund\u2019s quiet offensive in Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Little known to the public, the OPEC Fund for International Development has devoted almost h ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/opec-funds-quiet-offensive-in-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-13T10:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-13T10:32:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681363921.64.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"586\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/opec-funds-quiet-offensive-in-africa#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/opec-funds-quiet-offensive-in-africa\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"OPEC Fund\u2019s quiet offensive in Africa\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-13T10:00:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-13T10:32:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/opec-funds-quiet-offensive-in-africa\"},\"wordCount\":666,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/opec-funds-quiet-offensive-in-africa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681363921.64.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\",\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mauritius\",\"Mauritius\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/opec-funds-quiet-offensive-in-africa#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/opec-funds-quiet-offensive-in-africa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/opec-funds-quiet-offensive-in-africa\",\"name\":\"OPEC Fund\u2019s quiet offensive in Africa - 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