The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has agreed to contribute $10 million to the Special Fund Window for Less Developed Members (SFW) of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), according to an announcement.
The agreement was signed by Sultan Abdulraham Al-Marshad, CEO of SFD, and AIIB Vice President Danny Alexander. The SFW is a facility to make AIIB loans more affordable for its less developed members by providing them interest rate buy down.
During the signing of the agreement, Al-Marshad said:
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia appreciates AIIB’s effort in assisting less developed members to recover from COVID-19 pandemic, and to help narrow their financing gap for projects in infrastructure and other productive sectors. We look forward to further strengthening our strategic partnership with AIIB.
SFD is a financial institution established by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia aimed at providing financial assistance to developing countries.
Created in 1974, the SFD’s principal objective is to foster economic development and growth in developing nations by providing concessional loans and managing Saudi Arabia’s contributions to international development organizations.
The SFW, on the other hand, was approved by the AIIB Board of Directors on March 22, 2022. It will provide interest rate buy down to eligible sovereign-backed financing projects that are aligned with AIIB Corporate Strategy and identified according to AIIB’s regular rigorous investment process.
During the agreement signing, Alexander said:
Serving our less developed members is key priority for AIIB. The operationalization of the Special Fund Window constitutes a critical milestone in AIIB’s efforts for making our financing more affordable to its less developed members. We are grateful to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for being the first contributor to the SFW and look forward to welcoming other donors joining this Fund.
The AIIB is a multilateral development bank that aims to support the building of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. The bank was proposed by China in 2013 and was launched in January 2016. Its headquarters is located in Beijing.
