THE HISTORY OF THE OPEC FUND
The accord went into force on May 10, 1976 and the OPEC Fund commenced operations in August 1976 with an initial endowment of US$800 million (US$4.5 billion in today’s money). The institution signed its first operation on December 23, 1976, providing a US$7.5 million balance of payments support loan to Sudan. Similar financing was signed with Samoa, Sri Lanka, Guinea, Pakistan and the Central African Republic later that day, making these six nations the first OPEC Fund partner countries. From the outset, the founders of the OPEC Fund took great care to create a lean, agile and flexible organization. Antonio R. Parra, Assistant Legal
Counsel from 1979-1984, remembers: “One of the big standouts of the OPEC Fund was how much was achieved with very limited resources. There was no waste and we avoided duplicating efforts.” Led by Director-General Shihata, a small staff took up residence in Vienna. They were first housed by OPEC, which had moved its Headquarters to Vienna in 1965, and then at the OPEC Fund’s first standalone site at Palais Strudlhof between 1979 and 1982, next to the legendary stairs of the same name in the city’s elegant ninth district. Abdelkader Benamara, who joined the OPEC Fund in 1979 as a young Algerian economist from
Signing of first loan agreement with Sudan in December 1976 with Director-General Shihata
Palais Strudlhof and the Strudlhofstiege
What the Spanish Steps are to Rome and the Potemkin Stairs are to Odesa is the famous Strudlhofstiege to Vienna, immortalized by Heimito von Doderer’s novel of the same name, one of the main works of Austrian literature of the 20th century. Built from luminescent limestone, the stairs are seen as a masterpiece of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau). The adjacent neoclassical Palais Strudlhof dates back to the late 1800s, featuring a balcony with colonnade overlooking a garden. Over the years, the site has seen its fair share of history: In 1914, a secret meeting of the Austro-Hungarian Ministerial Council adopted the final version of an ultimatum to Serbia, essentially triggering the First World War. In 1970, during the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) between the Soviet Union and the United States, the American delegation used the palais as a headquarters. The US Embassy in Vienna is less than a five-minute walk away.
Antonio R. Parra, Assistant Legal Counsel, 1979-1984, OPEC Fund
the International Monetary Fund on a temporary basis before going on to hold senior leadership positions, including Director of Research and Information, remembers: “I took a leave of absence and wanted to stay for two years. But the mandate was fascinating, and we were a very small group who were able to get things done. It was the South-South dimension that was my inspiration. Many people were not happy with the international economic order in the late 1970s, which was biased against the poor.
And there were many ideas and conferences on how to change things. But I felt here at the OPEC Fund we could really do stuff and bring about improvements and change.”
Abdelkader Benamara, Director of Research and Information, 1979-2003, OPEC Fund
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