Islamic Development Bank

Islamic Development Bank

Abbreviation	IDB
Motto	Together We Build A Better Future[1]
Formation	1975 (1975)
Type	Development bank
Location	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Membership	56 countries
Key people	Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al-Madani, President
Employees	932
Website	Official website

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) (Arabic: البنك الإسلامي للتنمية ) is a multilateral development financing institution located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 1973 by the Finance Ministers at the first Organisation of the Islamic Conference (now called the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) with the support of the king of Saudi Arabia at the time (Faisal), and began its activities on 20 October 1975.^[2] There are 56 shareholding member states.^[3]

On the 22 May 2013, IDB tripled its authorized capital to $150 billion to better serve Muslims in member and non-member countries.^[4] The Bank has received credit ratings of AAA from Standard & Poor's,^[5] Moody's,^[6] and Fitch.^[7] Saudi Arabia holds about one quarter of the bank's paid up capital^[8] The IDB is an observer at the United Nations General Assembly.

Membership

The present membership of the Bank consists of 56 countries. The basic condition for membership is that the prospective member country should be a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), pay its contribution to the capital of the Bank and be willing to accept such terms and conditions as may be decided upon by the IDB Board of Governors.

Ranked on the basis of paid-up capital (as of August 2015),^[8] major shareholders include:

1. Saudi Arabia (26.57%)
2. Libya (10.66%)
3. Iran (9.32%)
4. Egypt (9.22%)
5. Turkey (8.41%)
6. United Arab Emirates (7.54%)
7. Kuwait (7.11%)
8. Pakistan (3.31%)
9. Algeria (3.31%)
10. Indonesia (2.93%)

IDB Group

IDB has evolved into a group of five Entities, consisting of Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Islamic Research & Training Institute (IRTI), Islamic Corporation for Development of the Private Sector (ICD), Islamic Corporation for Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) and International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC).

Projects and programs

Completed

• The Gao Bridge in Mali: Until a few years ago, crossing the Niger River at Gao was done by a ferry that might or might not be operating. This hindered progress and discouraged trade. The Gao Bridge financed by the IDB connected the once isolated Gao Region in eastern Mali to the heartland.^[9]
• Khanarc Canal in northeast Azerbaijan: Built around 70 years ago, the Samur-Absheron Canal carries water from the Samur River to irrigate farms in northeastern Azerbaijan and supply the national capital, Baku, with drinking water. Years of neglect meant that the canal was inefficient – it lost much of the water it carried – and did not have the capacity to meet existing demand for irrigation or, still less, to allow for expansion. A loan from the IDB helped the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan rebuild the canal.^[10]

Ongoing

• Modernising road planning and designing in Yemen: The deserts and mountains of Yemen make building and maintaining roads a challenge. The network of paved roads is limited and many remote communities are still isolated. A good road network is essential to bring rural areas into the mainstream and to boost development.^[11]
• Scholarship Programs: The Bank's fund and implement its scholarship programmes as part of its overall effort in the development of human resources of its member countries and those of the Muslim communities in non-member countries. There are three scholarship programmes offered by IDB:

1. Scholarship Programme for Muslim Communities in Non-Member Countries
2. M.Sc Scholarship Programme in Science and Technology for IDB Least Developed Member Countries
3. Merit Scholarship Programme for High Technology^[12]

Criticism

The Islamic Development Bank is known to have funded several projects related to the U.S.-terrorist designated Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.^[13]

In August 1999 the Islamic Development Bank approved a $250,000 transfer issued by the Saudi government as a contribution to “the purchase of land in Washington DC to be the headquarters for an education and research center under the aegis of the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR).”^[13][14] CAIR is a U.S.-based Muslim advocacy organization with strong ties to Hamas which have been confirmed by several investigations.^[15]

An article by Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen reported that in 2001 the Islamic Development Bank transferred $538 million raised by Saudi and Gulf royal telethons to support families of Palestinian suicide bombers and the cause of the Palestinian intifada.^[16] On August 1, 2001 Dr Ahmad Muhammad Ali, a Saudi academic and president of the Islamic Development Bank, reportedly said during an interview with Asharq al-Awsat: “There was no delay in paying financial assistance to the families of Palestinian martyrs...We have started paying them soon after receiving the money.”^[17][18]

Dr Ali had previously declared that IDB was responsible for the smooth functioning of al-Quds Intifada Fund and al-Aqsa Fund, both established during an Arab summit in Cairo in October 2000. According to the final communiqué of the summit, “Al-Quds Intifadah Fund will have a capital of 200 million dollars to be allocated for disbursement to the families of Palestinian martyrs fallen in the Intifadah.”^[16][19]

Furthermore, Ehrenfeld and Lappen mentioned documented bank records discovered in the West Bank and Gaza proving that the IDB has channeled UN funds to Hamas.^[16] Nevertheless, the bank was granted observer status by the UN in 2007 amidst all-round criticism.^[16][17]

In 2008 IDB funded the project of a rehabilitation center and vocational training center by ARRAID, a Muslim Brotherhood organization in Ukraine also known as Ukrainian Association of Social Organizations.^[20] ARRAID is a member of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), an umbrella group for Muslim Brotherhood organizations in Europe.^[20] Based on a ARRAID fundraising brochure, the aim of the organization span cultural, educational and financial support to Ukrainian Muslims.^[20][21] Through a progressive “Islamic proselytism (da’wa) in the country,” ARRAID intended to become “an important breach (thughra) in confronting Christian missionary attacks and Jewish expansion, so assist and help it to be able to follow the way it began.”^[20][21]

Moreover, the Islamic Development Bank has financed projects by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the largest Muslim organization in North America which has been accused of ties with extremist and terrorist organizations.^[22] INSA has systematically denied that it was “subject to the control of any other domestic or international organizations including the Muslim Brotherhood;”^[23] yet documents released in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case ultimately proved INSA’s affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S.^[23]

Recently, the bank’s name has been associated with the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013. Dzhokar Tsarnaev, one of the two Kyrgizstani-American citizen who was convicted of planting bombs at the marathon, used to pray at the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) mosque in Cambridge, MA. The Islamic Development Bank is one of the major financial contributors to IBS. Allegedly, the Islamic Society of Boston received a $1,000,000 donation from the Islamic Development Bank.

Beyond the IDB’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, a 1991 report by the U.S. Library of Congress on Sudan claimed that the IDB contributed to the political and financial transformation of Sudan into a radical Islamic state in 1983.^[16] In fact, the Islamic Development Bank had supported the Sudanese Faisal Islamic Bank, which was established in 1977 by Saudi prince Muhammad ibn Faisal Al Saud and managed by the National Islamic Front, an Islamist political organization that included the Sudanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.^[16] According to that report, the establishment of Faisal Islamic Bank induced other Sudanese political groups to form their own Islamic banks,^[16] to the extent that in the early 1980s the Islamic banks in Sudan had acquired 20% of the country’s deposits, thereby providing the financial basis for the country’s Islamization and “promoting the Islamic governmental policies to date.”^[16][24]

See also

• Economy of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
• Asian Development Bank
• Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
• African Development Bank
• Caribbean Development Bank
• CAF – Development Bank of Latin America
• European Investment Bank
• Islamic banking

References

• Taylor & Francis Group; Dean, Lucy (2003), The Middle East and North Africa 2004: 2004 (Illustrated ed.), Routledge, ISBN 1-85743-184-7 

External links

• Official website
• IDB Review by DinarStandard