In the wake of the impact of the continuing global financial crisis, the euro zone debt crisis and the so-called Arab Spring - and their economic impact on global and regional markets including member countries of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the Jeddah-based Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector funding arm of the IDB Group, is embarking on a new strategy to take its financing directly to its constituencies and to make its financing impact more on the real economy through the generation of employment and promoting growth. This includes opening regional offices; setting up two new departments at the ICD; launching more Ijara (leasing companies) in diverse markets such as Albania, Saudi Arabia and Algeria; establishing SME investment funds including a SR1 billion fund for Saudi Arabia; and establishing a mortgage finance company in Saudi Arabia in anticipation of the long-awaited mortgage law. (source)
