OPEC Fund okays 250-million-dollar loans to private sector

ABU DHABI, June 11 (<a href=www.arabtimesonline.com>AFP) - The OPEC Fund agreed to lend a fresh 250 million dollars to the private sector in poor and developing countries at a meeting in Abu Dhabi Wednesday, the fund's director general told AFP. This will take to 500 million dollars the total of loans extended to the private sector in these countries, Y. Seyid Abdulai said. Finance ministers from the member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries held the annual meeting of the OPEC Fund in the absence of member Iraq, and Abdulai said they had not discussed extending reconstruction assistance to the war-torn country. He had told reporters on Tuesday that aid to Iraq might come up during the meeting. Although the OPEC Fund does not provide assistance to its member countries, "Iraq is a special case. The ministers can discuss whatever they want and whom to fund," Abdulai said. The ministers from Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela were told that lower oil production had impacted economic growth in OPEC member states but steady oil prices would see better growth this year. "In our own member states, average growth moderated to 1.8 percent in 2002 from 2.6 percent in 2001, mainly reflecting oil production cutbacks," said Saleh al-Omair, chairman of the fund's governing board. "But growth in our member countries should gather pace, supported by continued firm oil prices and fiscal stimuli," he added. OPEC announced at the end of an extraordinary meeting in Qatar Wednesday that it would maintain its current production ceiling of 25.4 million barrels per day (bpd) at least until July 31 when it meets in Vienna to discuss Iraq's return to the market, but urged members to comply strictly with quotas. With a capital of 3.435 billion dollars, the OPEC Fund committed to loans totaling 6.6 billion dollars until April this year, with actual disbursements reaching 4.43 billion dollars.