JEDDAH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, March 25, 2020/ -- On 11th March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. ICD (www.ICD-ps.org) is deeply concerned about the health and well-being of its member countries, valued partners and employees. As we observe the rapidly evolving coronavirus (COVID-19) situation together, ICD wants to update you on the situation and the steps which have been taken and to be done to facilitate the safety and well-being of ICD’s member countries, partners and clients.

We are very concerned about the exponential growth in the number of cases worldwide and the human, social and economic fallout from this pandemic, especially in ICD member countries.

The micro and macroeconomic instability will have severe economic growth and poverty impacts on the member countries. ICD strongly believes in its member countries’ capability to cope with these adverse impacts of COVID-19 and assures them of ICD’s full support as per its mandate to overcome this challenging period.

Based on IsDB Group communique (https://bit.ly/3du5jmk), ICD highlights the following fact:

In order to support its member countries in this time of need, IsDB Group is setting-up a special ‘Strategic Preparedness and Response Facility’ of US$730 million to mitigate the negative health and socio-economic impact of the COVID -19 pandemic.

The facility will extend financing to both the public and private sector in minimizing the spread and impact of the pandemic in IsDB member countries and to build their resilience.

Financing will be extended in the form of grants, concessional resources, trade finance, private sector lending and political and risk insurance coverage. The IsDB Group will deploy all the available financing instruments to channel the funds in a fast track manner to support its member countries.

The IsDB Group entities will support the private sector in responding to the crisis and to minimize its impact on SMEs to sustain economic development.

Additionally, ICD shall provide US$ 250 Million of emergency funding mainly in the form of medium to long-term financing instruments to help existing and new clients in the financial, agri-food, energy and other affected sectors. ICD will also be aiding the private healthcare industry of affected member countries to meet surging need for services, equipment and medicines. Further, ICD will work closely with 100+ local and regional financial institutions in its network to provide necessary support so they can continue to finance SMEs in affected sectors within the markets they operate.

ICD spent the last several weeks preparing for how the virus may impact financial institutions and the projects sponsors we partner with and the impact on how we work together. We understand that our partners’ businesses are vital and play even more prominent role in the local economies.

ICD calls for a strong global coordination and collaboration for immediate response, as well as medium to long term interventions. We will work hand in hand with all partners for a united action to overcome this pandemic and we strongly believe that effective coordination and interaction among member countries is extremely important to effectively address the current situation.

Currently, some critical ICD employees are continuing to work from their offices while many others are working remotely from home. We have reduced business travel to a minimum. With the dedication of ICD’s team, the available technology and our geographical distribution, we should be able to continue to work on ICD sponsored projects without disruption, either remotely or onsite. We will continue to remain attentive and alert in the coming days and weeks.

At the end, we would like to share a message of goodwill from the CEO of ICD, Mr Ayman Sejiny: Our dear member countries and partners, in fact, these are exceptional times. ICD believes strongly in the importance of continuous dialogue and collaboration. ICD is ready to provide all kinds and means of support and assistance. Keep the communication strong between us and I am confident that hand in hand we will overcome this challenging period together.”