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Saudi EXIM Bank Signs Agreement with ITFC

A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
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Saudi EXIM Bank Signs Agreement with ITFC

A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (SPA)

Saudi EXIM Bank signed on Tuesday an agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to implement a $25 million financing line for Habib Bank Limited (HBL) in Pakistan to develop export opportunities for the Kingdom's Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector to export non-oil products to the Pakistani market.

The agreement comes within the framework of the “Enabling Export Activities of SMEs” program, which aims to increase export opportunities for Saudi SMEs and attract new importers of Saudi goods in Pakistan.

The ITFC and the Saudi EXIM Bank are working to enhance the competitiveness of Saudi non-oil exports to expand in international markets by providing credit facilities to financial institutions in the target markets.

The ITFC is also cooperating with the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monsha'at) within the program's framework to organize trade meetings for Saudi enterprises with potential partners in several countries and various sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food industries, and others.

The agreement was signed in the presence of the President of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Dr. Mohammed bin Sulaiman Al-Jasser, during a meeting of the program's partners at the ITFC headquarters in Jeddah to develop the 2024 work plan, with the participation of Eng. Saad bin Abdulaziz Al-khalb, [Alkhalb], CEO of Saudi EXIM Bank, Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, CEO of ITFC and Governor of Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority, Monsha'at, Sami bin Ibrahim Al-Husseini.

This cooperation is an important step in promoting international trade and increasing the contribution of SMEs to the GDP in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, which is one of the objectives of the “Enabling Export Activities of SMEs” program.

On April 19, 2022, a tripartite MoU was signed between ITFC, Saudi EXIM Bank, and Monsha'at to launch the SME Export Enablement Program in Saudi Arabia.

The program aims to boost Saudi non-oil exports by financing, training, consultations, and capability development for SMEs. Additionally, it focuses on improving the readiness of SMEs to receive financing from financial institutions with the possibility of local private banks participating in the program.

The program focuses on four key areas to help SMEs grow and expand their businesses, including capability development, access to export markets, consultancy services, and access to export financing (credit facilities).

Tuesday’s agreement represents an important milestone in implementing the program's objectives to promote exports of Saudi products and enable them to reach global markets by providing the necessary support in accordance with the Kingdom's Vision 2030, as SMEs in different sectors will be able to export their products to international markets.

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World Breathes Sigh of Relief as Trump Spares Fed, IMF

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of press onboard Air Force One on a flight to Fiumicino Airport near Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, April 25, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump speaks to members of press onboard Air Force One on a flight to Fiumicino Airport near Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, April 25, 2025. (Reuters)
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World Breathes Sigh of Relief as Trump Spares Fed, IMF

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of press onboard Air Force One on a flight to Fiumicino Airport near Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, April 25, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump speaks to members of press onboard Air Force One on a flight to Fiumicino Airport near Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, April 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Global policymakers gathering in Washington this week breathed a collective sigh of relief that the US-centric economic order that prevailed for the past 80 years was not collapsing just yet despite Donald Trump's inward-looking approach.

The Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were dominated by trade talks, which also brought some de-escalatory statements from Washington about its relations with China.

But some deeper questions hovered over central bankers and finance ministers after Trump's attacks on international institutions and the Federal Reserve: can we still count on the US dollar as the world's safe haven and on the two lenders that have supported the international economic system since the end of World War Two?

Conversations with dozens of policymakers from all over the world revealed generalized relief at Trump’s scaling back his threats to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, the guardian of the dollar’s international status whom he had previously described as a "major loser".

And many also saw a silver lining in US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s call to reshape the IMF and World Bank according to Trump's priorities because it implied that the United States was not about to pull out of the two lenders that it helped create at the Bretton Woods conference of 1944.

"This week was one of cautious relief," Austria's central bank governor Robert Holzmann said. "There was a turn (in the US administration's stance) but I fret this may not be the last. I keep my reservations."

A politicization of the Fed and, to a lesser extent, the hollowing out of the IMF and World Bank are almost too much to fathom for most officials.

Deprived of a lender of last resort, some $25 trillion of bonds and loans issued abroad would be called into question.

NO ALTERNATIVE

At the heart of policymakers' concerns is that there is no ready alternative to the United States as the world's financial hegemon - a situation that economists know as the Kindleberger Trap after renowned historian Charles Kindleberger.

To be sure, the euro, a distant-second reserve currency, is gaining popularity in light of the European Union's newly found status as an island of relative stability.

But policymakers who spoke to Reuters were adamant that the European single currency was not ready yet to dethrone the dollar and could at best hope to add a little to its 20% share of the world's reserves.

Of the 20 countries that share the euro only Germany has the credit rating and the size that investors demand from a safe haven.

Some other members are highly indebted and prone to bouts of political and financial turmoil - most recently in France last year - which raise lingering questions about the bloc's long-term viability.

And the euro zone's geographical proximity to Russia - particularly the three Baltic countries that were once part of the Soviet Union - cast an even more sinister shadow.

With Japan now too small and China's heavily managed currency in an even worse position, this left no alternative to the dollar system underpinned by the Fed and the two Bretton Woods institutions.

In fact, the IMF and the World Bank could scarcely survive if their largest shareholder, the United States, pulled out, officials said.

"The US is absolutely crucial for multilateral institutions," Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski told Reuters. "We're happy they remain."

Still, few expected to go back to the old status quo and thorny issues were likely to await, such as widespread dependence on US firms for a number of key services from credit cards to satellites.

But some observers argued that the market turmoil of the past few weeks, which saw US bonds, shares and the currency sell off sharply, might have been a shot in the arm as it forced a change of tack by the administration.

"When President Trump talked about firing Jay Powell, the fact that markets reacted so vigorously to that ended up being a disciplining reality just reminding the administration that, if you cross that line, it could have some very severe implications," said Nathan Sheets, global chief economist at Citi.