The Kuwait Fund: Sixteen Years in Development Assistance

During the first twelve years of its history, the operations of the Kuwait Fund were confined to the Arab countries. In this first phase of its existence it concluded a total of forty-seven loan agreements amounting to KD134 million or to approximately $402 million. A second phase started in July 1974 when the Fund’s Law and Charter were amended shortly after the ‘oil revolution’ increasing its declared capital from KD200 to KD1000 million (equivalent to more than $3.5 billion) and extending its scope of activity to cover not only the Arab countries but other developing countries as well. During the last four years, the Fund provided eighty-four new loans totalling KD390 million (equivalent to about $1.4 billion), raising the total number of loans to over 130 and the sum of commitments to KD524 million (approximately $1.8 billion). Mainly because of its relatively limited resources the Fund’s operations in the first phase were rather modest compared with its present level of activity. However, it was during this phase that the Fund evolved its policies, work guidlines and its informal modus operandi, and acquired a measure of international reputation and prestige of impressive proportions.