The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, has signed a syndicated Murabaha financing Agreement totalling US$ 17.5 million with the Government of The Gambia.
The Facility, which was signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), Engr. Hani Salem Sonbol, and The Gambia’s Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Hon. Amadou Sanneh, on the 29th of November this year, will be used to support the agriculture sector in Gambia through the import of inputs (fertilizers) and the purchase of Agricultural Produce (groundnut, groundnut seeds, cashew, etc).
A news report by Africa Press Organisation (APO) issued today stated that the financing was in line with the Framework Agreement signed on May 2017 with the Government of The Gambia amounting to $210 million over a three years period to support the key sectors of Agriculture and Energy.
According to the report, this operation is the third transaction approved by ITFC in 2017 under the new Framework Agreement for a total of US$ 62.5 million
At the agreement signing ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer, ITFC Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, was quoted as saying that his team was “very excited for completing this transaction. It reaffirms the ITFC’s proven strategy of investing in key strategic sectors of our member countries and thus contributing towards the development of the agriculture industry in The Gambia which will lead to providing employment directly and indirectly to over 70% of the country’s workforce”.
Similarly, The Gambia’s Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr. Amadou Sanneh, thanked ITFC for its continued support and affirmed that The Gambia is still depending on tourism but Agriculture remains the primary sector of the Gambian economy with 70 percent of the population of just over 2 million depending on agriculture.
It is worth mentioning that ITFC services coverage has spanned 41 countries for 184 clients from MENA, Africa, and Asia. Through the financing of the agriculture, energy and industrial sectors, ITFC solutions touched the lives of thousands of people and contributed in the socio-economic development of our member countries.
The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation is an autonomous entity within the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group. It commenced operations in January 2008 with the purpose of consolidating all the trade finance businesses that used to be handled by various windows within the IsDB Group.
