The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) - an autonomous entity within the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group - has disbursed $1.6 billion in the first six months of the year for the financing of various developmental activities, the company said in its mid-year financial report for 1429H (2008G). The expenditure exceeded the performance achieved during the same period last year. The $1.6 billion was divided equally, with 50 percent allocated to financing private sector trade and 50 percent allocated to the public sector, the company said in a statement recently. Breaking down the amount in terms of intra-trade, the IDB member countries received the bigger slice, with financing of imports reaching $1.3 billion compared to $300 million for non-member countries. Dr. Waleed Al Wohaib, ITFC CEO, said: “For over 30 years we have looked at trade as a vehicle for economic development in member countries and in our first year of operations our trade finance objectives were surpassed as the numbers show. We will continue to support the growth of intra-trade between member countries and to qualitatively and quantitatively increase trade finance operations in the private sector.” He highlighted the expanding of ITFC's business base to include more new clients such as the Lebanese Islamic Bank, Jordan Pharma Co., and the Afribank Nigeria Plc. The ITFC has an authorized capital of $3 billion and a subscribed capital of $750 million. __
