The Opec Fund for International Development (OFID) has approved more than $454 million of new development funding to benefit developing countries across the globe, a media report said.

OFID’s newly-approved public sector loans, which total nearly $323 million, will support the following projects/programs in Bangladesh ($30 million), Belize ($40 million),Bolivia ($30 million), Burkina Faso ($16.8 million), China ($35 million), Djibouti ($14 million),Kyrgyz Republic ($10 million),Madagascar ($20 million),Nicaragua ($ 30million), Rwanda ($20 million), Sri Lanka ($50 million), Zambia ($12 million) and Zimbabwe ($15 million), reported Emirates news agency Wam.

Other approvals include 11 grants totalling $7.56 million. The grants support many organizations including International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), International Water Association, United Nations Development Programme Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP) and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

Under OFID’s private sector facility, five financing facilities totalling $114 million were approved. Two will help enhance the energy sectors in Armenia and Jordan; two others will support financial institutions in Cambodia and Nicaragua in expanding their lending to micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The facility will also help strengthen the capital base of the Nicaraguan institution. Also approved was a loan to help expand cement production in Pakistan. Under OFID’s trade finance operations, $10 million was approved to support international trade activities in Turkey.

OFID is the development finance institution established by the Member States of Opec in 1976 as a channel of aid to the developing countries. At the close of the year 2016, contributions pledged by Opec member countries totalled $4,433 million out of which $3,462 million was direct contributions to OFID. The reserve account stood at $2,740 million.

So far, 134 countries worldwide have benefited from OFID's financial assistance.