The OPEC Fund for International Development is rolling out a $1.5 billion support program aimed at helping partner countries weather a wave of economic disruptions driven by Middle East tensions, surging commodity prices and tightening global financing conditions.
The initiative, dubbed E-STAR the Economic Stability, Trade and Resilience Initiative, was announced by OPEC Fund President Abdulhamid Alkhalifa as the institution marks its 50th anniversary. The programme will deploy funds over the coming years across three focus areas, helping governments manage fiscal pressures, facilitating access to critical imports through trade finance, and building out energy, transport and logistics infrastructure to shore up supply chains.
“Recent developments in the Middle East are reverberating far beyond the region,” Alkhalifa said. “For many of our partner countries, these pressures are immediate and deeply felt.”
The announcement comes as developing economies face a confluence of headwinds, elevated energy and commodity costs, disrupted trade flows, and reduced access to affordable credit. Alkhalifa said the initiative is designed to move quickly, helping countries maintain essential public services while also laying groundwork for longer-term resilience.
The OPEC Fund, which has committed more than $30 billion to development projects across 125 countries since its founding in 1976, is rated AA+ by both Fitch and S&P Global Ratings. Earlier this year, the institution priced a $1.5 billion three-year benchmark bond that drew a record orderbook of $5.2 billion, signaling strong investor confidence in its development mandate. OPEC Fund for International Development
Alkhalifa, who also announced he was joining LinkedIn to engage more directly with partners and the development community, framed the new initiative against a backdrop of threatened development gains. Global life expectancy has risen by more than 15 years over the past half-century and extreme poverty has fallen sharply, progress he said was now “under pressure” and in some cases reversing.
“At a time when partnership itself is under pressure, making its value visible and understood is more important than ever,” he said.
