ICD’s Business Performance in 2019
In 2019, the global economy continued to be under significant
stress, slowing down more than expected over the last remaining
months which raised fears of an abrupt downturn in economic
activity. Major factors which underpinned this backdrop include
the escalation of trade and geopolitical tensions, with global
manufacturing PMIs remaining mostly in contractionary territory,
mirroring the broad-based slowdown in trade and industrial
production. While there were several bright spots, a number of
ICD member countries were under strain, and some have slightly
underperformed relative to past averages.
In 2019, ICD oversaw a strategic transformation, where clear,
refined objectives for the next 10 years were approved by the
Board of Directors. Moving forward, five key pillars will lay the
foundation of ICD’s upgraded strategy: i) Re-focusing core
offerings to financial institutions based on clear client segmen-
tation; ii) launching innovative and enabling products and
building digital platforms; iii) shifting efforts away from
non-core areas, working instead on a strengths-based
approach; iv) better serving member countries based on their
development needs; and v) deepening collaboration with the
IsDB Group, financial institutions and partners.
Against the challenging external backdrop and due to the
transitionary period in 2019, ICD witnessed a slowdown in the
progress of operational achievements by approving a total of
11 projects worth USD 147.5 million. This amount brings the
value of ICD’s cumulative approvals to USD 6.5 billion since
its inception. Despite this, ICD maintained disbursing its
earlier commitment of USD 220.0 million, with a
disbursement/approval ratio of 149%.
