ICIEC in US$11.5 Country Risk Investment Cover

Jeddah-based IDB affiliate Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) has approved an Investment Insurance Facility (IIF) to cover a lease-finance operation against country risks to finance expansion of Kenana Sugar Company's processing factory in The Sudan. KSC is an Arab joint venture, and the US$15.5m project will be financed 74 per cent by IDB's Islamic Banks' Portfolio. The risk covered by the IIF includes expropriation, nationalization, war, civil disturbances, transfer restrictions, and host-country breach of contract, with commercial risk mitigated by assigning export receivables through a special escrow account. In July, ICIEC approved a US$10m export credit insurance facility to cover the export of Egyptian construction materials to Mali. ICIEC has an authorized capital of US$150m. In July the UAE became the 28th member but to date over 26 Muslim countries have yet to subscribe to its equity.