IsDB and ICIEC offer $10.5bn package to ease global food crisis

(Trade Arabia, Jeddah, 30 July 2022) The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group has endorsed a $10.54 billion comprehensive Food Security Response Program (FSRP) package that will support member countries in addressing the ongoing food crisis. The package was approved during an extraordinary joint meeting of the IsDB Board of Executive Directors, the Board of Directors of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), and the Board of Directors of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC). The primary focus of the programme and the bulk of the financing envelope of the remaining $7.3 billion, which will span over the next three years, will be on developing innovative medium- and long-term interventions to address structural weaknesses and root causes of food insecurity in the member states. These include low productivity, rural poverty, climate change, and weak resilience of regional and national agricultural and food systems through six (6) key initiatives: (i) building agricultural resilience to climate change; (ii) food and input value-chains; (iii) smallholders' productivity and market access; (iv) rural livelihood support; (v) livestock and fisheries development; and (vi) building resilient food supply systems. The total IsDB Group's financing support for agriculture and food security currently stands at $20.6 billion, comprising 1,538 operations.