THE HISTORY OF THE OPEC FUND
The OPEC Fund simultaneously expanded its private sector footprint in Africa. In 2023, it extended its first private sector loan in Botswana, providing US$20 million to Access Bank Botswana in support of MSMEs with 30 percent of the facility earmarked for women-led businesses. Access Bank Botswana is a subsidiary of Access Bank Nigeria, based in an OPEC Fund member country. The institution also entered new territory with the introduction of sustainability-
assistance globally. In recent years, the OPEC Fund and other ACG members have announced major joint commitments, including US$1 billion in COVID-19 assistance (2020), US$10 billion for food security (2022), US$24 billion in climate financing (2022), US$50 billion for Africa (2023) and US$10 billion to combat desertification. The power of partnership is also a driving force behind Mission 300, an initiative launched by the World Bank and the African Development Bank, to connect 300 million people in Sub- Saharan Africa to reliable, affordable and sustainable energy. The OPEC Fund joined the effort in January 2025 with a pledge of up to US$2 billion by 2030. Over the 2025–2030 period, the OPEC Fund is targeting total financing commitments of US$20 billion to partner countries, reflecting high demand and urgent needs. Heightened uncertainty in global markets, constrained fiscal
linked loans, a financial instrument that ties financing terms such as pricing to a borrower’s performance against pre-agreed sustainability targets. These products embed sustainability into the financing structure, directly incentivizing companies to deliver measurable environmental and social outcomes. At the institutional level, the OPEC Fund signed an Exposure Exchange Agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in 2025 for a synthetic exchange of credit risk exposure. This milestone supports efforts to improve portfolio diversification, strengthen financial resilience and increase lending capacity. Another milestone was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding and Co-financing Framework Agreement with the World Bank Group to enhance cooperation and boost efficiencies in project preparation and implementation. Partnerships and collaborations have been foundational to the OPEC Fund since its inception. While the OPEC Fund has since evolved, increasingly originating and leading initiatives, pooling resources to deliver joint solutions continues to be the most powerful driver of sustainable development. This is exemplified by the long- standing engagement with the Arab Coordination Group (ACG), a strategic alliance of 10 development finance institutions providing development assistance and financing. Established in 1975, the group is today the second largest provider of development
The OPEC Fund extended its first private sector loan in Botswana in 2023
ETC Group (ETG) The OPEC Fund signed its first sustainability-linked loan in 2024, marking a step forward in integrating sustainability into its financing tools. The US$40 million loan was part of a US$394 million package alongside key development partners. ETG is one of Africa’s largest agricultural commodity supply chain managers. The financing enhanced ETG’s working capital, strengthened food systems and supported the livelihoods of more than 600,000 smallholder farmers across sub- Saharan Africa. The SLL ties lending
ETG, established in 1967 as the Export Trading Company in Kenya, has grown into one of Africa’s largest independent agricultural commodity supply chain managers, with over 300 warehouses and 70 processing plants. The OPEC Fund has supported ETG since 2009 through several loans, benefiting over 350,000 smallholder farmers with more than half of the funds directed to least developed countries.
terms to meeting specific environmental, social and
governance targets, incentivizing ETG to improve farmer livelihoods, reduce environmental impacts and enhance food security.
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