Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development

The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (the Arab Fund), based in the State of Kuwait, is an Arab regional financial institution focused on funding economic and social development by financing public and private investment projects and providing grants and expertise. The Arab Fund's activities are characterized by a number of important aspects that make it a model of cooperation and Arab economic integration, and a reflection of outstanding joint Arab action.

With all the Arab countries as its members and concentrating on economic and social development affecting the same countries the Arab Fund carefully follows guidelines on neutrality in pursuing its activities and organizes itself under substantive rules to ensure independence from any political considerations when conducting in its operations.

The Arab Fund seeks to meet the development needs of Member countries and at the same time ensure feasibility and transparency in all its projects. In this context the most important aspect of the Arab Fund's operations is to consider the priorities of the projects and the policies established by the Member countries so that it does not impose any financial or economic conditions that interfere with such policies.

The loans provided by Arab Fund to Member countries are characterized as being concessional; by providing easy financing conditions to assist these countries implement their development plans. In this context, the Arab Fund has paid close attention to improving the concessional nature of its loans by reducing interest rates to 2.5% for low-income Arab countries and to 3% for others. Furthermore, it has increased the grace period before loan repayments start to between four and six years and extended the loan term to between 22 and 25 years. In addition, the Arab Fund continues to provide non-refundable grants as a contribution to various fields of studies, institutional support and training, a well as support for emergency situations and circumstances faced by some Member countries.