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IsDB Signs 91 Financing Agreements with Member Countries in Marrakesh

A view of the exterior building of the Islamic Development Bank Group in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia May 31, 2018. Picture taken May 31, 2018. REUTERS/Reem Baeshen
A view of the exterior building of the Islamic Development Bank Group in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia May 31, 2018. Picture taken May 31, 2018. REUTERS/Reem Baeshen
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IsDB Signs 91 Financing Agreements with Member Countries in Marrakesh

A view of the exterior building of the Islamic Development Bank Group in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia May 31, 2018. Picture taken May 31, 2018. REUTERS/Reem Baeshen
A view of the exterior building of the Islamic Development Bank Group in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia May 31, 2018. Picture taken May 31, 2018. REUTERS/Reem Baeshen

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has announced that the approved funding by all branches exceeded USD21.72 billion in 2018.

IsDB President Dr. Bandar Hajjar announced during a news conference, marking the release of the 2018 Annual Report on the occasion of the 44th Annual Meeting in Marrakesh, that a total of 91 financing agreements were signed in Marrakesh with member countries.

In 2018, the three development financing members of the Group (IsDB, ICD, and ITFC) all together approved a total of USD7 billion, he added.

These development financing operations were targeted to provide critical enablers for the economic transformation of 57 member-countries as their road to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Hajjar added that IsDB funding for the member countries since its establishment 44 years ago exceeded USD138 billion – Morocco’s stake totaled USD7 billion. He continued that 2018 was known for launching several new funds.

Mohamed Benchaaboun, IsDB Governor and Minister of Economy and Finance, said that this edition of the bank’s meetings coincides with the beginning of a new strategy focused on supporting member countries integration with global value chains.

Benchaaboun clarified that Morocco has all the required components to get involved in the new strategy of the bank, therefore Morocco is the first country to sign an agreement within this framework – covering 2019-2022.

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Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
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Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday said he will nominate prominent investor Scott Bessent as US Treasury secretary, a key cabinet position with vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs.

"I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States," Trump said in a statement released on Truth Social. "Scott is widely respected as one of the world's foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists."

Wall Street has been closely watching who Trump will pick, especially given his plans to remake global trade through tariffs and extend and potentially expand the raft of tax cuts enacted during his first term, Reuters reported
The choice came after days of deliberations by Trump as he sorted through a shifting list of candidates. Bessent spent day after day at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida providing economic advice, sources said, a proximity to the president-elect that may have helped him prevail.
Other names that had been floated included Apollo Global Management Chief Executive Marc Rowan and former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh. Investor John Paulson had also been a leading candidate, but dropped out, while Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick, another contender, was appointed as head of the Commerce Department.
Bessent, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.
The market's surge after Trump's election victory, he wrote, signaled investor expectations of "higher growth, lower volatility and inflation, and a revitalized economy for all Americans."
"Bessent has been on the side of less aggressive tariffs," said Oxford Economics' Ryan Sweet, adding that picking him makes the steep tariffs Trump proposed on the campaign trail less likely.
Bessent follows other financial luminaries who have taken the job, including former Goldman Sachs executives Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, Trump's first Treasury chief. Janet Yellen, the current secretary and first woman in the job, previously chaired the Federal Reserve and White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, Bessent's home state, said in a statement: "President Trump's economic agenda is in good hands with Scott Bessent. I look forward to working closely with Scott and President Trump to lower inflation and create the golden age of prosperity for the American people."