IslamicFinance.de

Moody's Investors Service reaffirmed Islamic Development Bank for the sixth consecutive year "Aaa" long-term and P-1 short-term foreign currency issuer rating with a "stable" outlook.
In Moody's oppinion, IDB reflects the presence of strong shareholder support, a high level of liquidity, the tested preferred creditor status and a low level of debt partly because of the Islamic (asset-backed) nature of its operations that makes it unique among MDB's.

The 36th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) didn't came with a crucial answer at a time when many of its member countries are experiencing drastic challenges to their political and economic governance.
It seems that some member countries continue to live in self-denial, while some others attend these meetings as civil service and diplomatic tourists who see the IDB Group as a mutual admiration club. Only a few countries who are on top of their brief are trying to confront the problems their countries and the IDB as a group are faced with.

The reason for the fact that rate of return on Islamic Development Bank’s Shariah-compliant bonds sold last month was triple that of Gulf sukuk is that investors looking to own the highest rated debt sold this year.
Islamic Development is rated AAA, the highest investment grade, at Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings.

Islamic Development Bank (IDB) conducted a roadshow in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. This is part of a resource mobilization plan.
The roadshow began in the UAE and reached London where the bank has successfully priced, $750 million, 5-year, Trust Certificates (sukuk) issued at par with a 2.35 percent semi-annual profit rate under its $3.5 billion Trust Certificate Issuance Program.

Islamic Development Bank, or IDB, gave out a $750 million five-year, benchmark sukuk with a price guidance of 35 basis points over mid-swaps.
One of the banks that is leading the sale told Dow Jones that BNP Paribas SA, Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings PLC and Standard Chartered Bank were joint bookrunners on the transaction.

Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is going to issue a benchmark dollar-denominated Islamic bond. So far they have limited to government-linked and high-rated bonds.
Arrangers are : BNP Paribas, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank.

The Islamic Cooperation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) has signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) with Lembaga Pembiayaan Ekspor Indonesia (Indonesia Eximbank), to explore together investment opportunities in Indonesia and other IDB member countries. This SPA was signed by Khalid Al-Aboodi, CEO of ICD, and I Made Gde Erata, CEO of Indonesia Eximbank .
This will also allow for the private sector in Indonesia to expand into emerging markets, especially to other OIC countries.

Saudi investors voted to begin investing in Bosnia with a starting capital of $50 million. Turkey announced that it will extend credit lines for infrastructure projects.
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Al Baraka BARKA.BH banking group and other Saudi investors have formed a joint investment company for Bosnia that tries to help Bosnia in its process of development.

Pakistan will recieve $3bn from IDB for infrastructure, energy, agriculture, education and health projects. This is the largest commitment for IDB in the 35 years of partnership. This what soever doesn't mean that IDB will support the government of Pakistan budgetary.

The board of directors of ICIEC approved a proposal to increase its capital increase, at its 62nd meeting held at the Islamic Development Bank headquarters.
The meeting, held under the chairmanship of Ahmed Mohammed Ali, gave approval to increase the ICIEC capital resources from ID150 million ($240 million) to ID400 million ($640 million).

Last week in Jeddah was signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to cooperate in co-investment in projects in member countries mutual to both multilateral development banks (MDBs).
The two MDBs will commit to contribute $500 million each in a $1 billion cooperation spanning three years starting in 2011 and based on the AfDB's medium term strategy and the IDB special program for the development of Africa (SPDA), whose main focus is to assist in scaling-up interventions in Africa in agriculture, infrastructure, water and sanitation, education and healthcare.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Islamic Development Bank's (IDB) Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'AAA' and its Short-term IDR at 'F1+'. It seems that the Outlook for the Long-term IDR is stable.
IDB's non-equity portfolio includes a large proportion of speculative-grade counterparties. Exposure to credit risk is mitigated by strict internal country and counterparty limits, and by preferred creditor status, which grants the bank priority over other creditors in a sovereign default.

Through its member organization Islamic Corporation for Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has started replicating the schemes tested in co-operation with Azerbaijan.
The IDB reports that ICD general manager Khaled Al-Aboodi and chairman of the State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan Ragimberdi Jepbarov signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on development co-operation.
The Memo has a focus on the development of the private sector, especially small- and medium-size enterprises, financial sector, agriculture, logistics, construction of affordable housing, services and manufacturing industries. The IDB will also render technical assistance and consultations within the framework of Islamic financing.

Saudi firms may launch 10 Islamic bonds, or sukuk, in 2011, more than double their number this year, but they will be dominated by private placements.
Key factors that will spur demand for Saudi sukuk issues will be a low interest rate environment in Saudi and Dubai World's restructuring accord with 99 percent of its bank lenders as well as Dubai's successful $1.25bn conventional bond issue in late September.
Saudi Arabia has had four sukuk issues this year so far, Nisar said, but declined to comment on the expected size of issues and only cited Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and an Aramco-Total joint-venture as being among the prospective issuers.
The interest rate environment in Saudi Arabia -- the main repo interest rate stands at two percent -- might seem discouraging for prospective sukuk buyers.

The World Bank Group, in partnership with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), is setting up a regional initiative that could raise up to $1 billion to close the Mena infrastructure gap, which will undermine the region's growth if not addressed.
Private sector investment in infrastructure in Mena countries is limited, especially outside the Gulf countries, despite huge unmet demand for infrastructure services.
The $1 billion initiative aims at addressing this shortfall through a regional investment vehicle to support both conventional and Sharia-compliant investment in infrastructure.

The World Bank is to set up a regional $1bn development fund in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to close the infrastructure gap in the Middle East and North Africa region, Gulf News has reported. "This regional initiative will unlock new flows of private sector investment to help countries like Egypt, Morocco, Jordan or Tunisia eager to push ahead with critical infrastructure projects that will drive competitiveness and boost much needed job creation," Robert Zoellick, World Bank president said.

Nine member countries have been approved to receive financing. They are Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Gambia, Mauritania and Albania.
The financing includes technical assistance in the form of grants for development projects in Benin, Chad, Togo, the GCC and grants and concessional loans for Sudan.
The approved financing also includes health and educational projects directed towards communities in non-member countries including Congo, Fiji, India and South Africa.

IDb will more than double the size of bonds, or Sukuk, issued under an ongoing program to $3.5 billion to help meet financing needs mainly from flood-ravaged Pakistan.
In 2009, the Saudi-based triple-A lender issued an $850 million Sukuk which was the first tranche of a $1.5 billion bond. The issue was part of the $6 billion program it established to soften the impact of the financial crisis on its member countries.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Senegal, among the world's 50 poorest nations, are turning to Islamic banking to spur economic growth by encouraging people to take out loans and open savings accounts.