Islamic Development Bank has selected four nongovernmental organisations to implement the $130 million (more than Tk 900 crore) Fael Khair programme for victims of Cyclone Sidr, IDB President Ahmad Mohamed Ali said yesterday.

The NGOs are: Islami Bank Foundation, Muslim Aid, Voluntary Organisation for Social Development (VOSD) and BRAC.

“The fund is being utilised for the construction of several hundred school-cum-cyclone shelters in the coastal belt and provision of urgent relief in the form of agro inputs to the victims,” said Ali while speaking on the global financial crisis and Islamic banking at an international seminar at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.

Islamic Banks Consultative Forum organised the seminar with its chairman Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher in the chair.

Ali, the former deputy education minister of Saudi Arabia, yesterday visited the cyclone Sidr affected Sharankhola upazila in Bagerhat to lay the foundation stone of the first such school-cum-cyclone shelter.

Under the Fael Khair project, Abdul Monem Ltd and DCL-PCCL will build shelter buildings in Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Barisal and Patuakhali districts.

The IDB chief, however, has refused to name the philanthropist who donated $130 million for the welfare of Sidr victims.

On the global financial crisis and Islamic banking, Ali said Islamic banks remained resilient through the first wave of crisis during 2008-09, but they were partly affected by the second wave in 2009.

He said the increased severity of the crisis also led to an increase in customer defaults and rescheduling of dues.

“Islamic banks suffered because of severe price devaluations in some other asset classes like equities and Sukuk and managed funds, which were adversely affected by the crisis,” said Ali.

He also said though the Islamic financial sector now appears to be recovering, the growth rates are expected to be less aggressive compared to the recent past.

He said the IDB has formed a financial services board and a research and training centre recently.

Ali said the IDB has raised $750 million recently from the market, which will be spent in the member countries.

Some 275 officials from Islamic banks and conventional banks that run Islamic banking will attend the seminar to be addressed by renowned national and international speakers.

Source: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/May-25-2011