May 8, 2002	Wednesday	Safar 24, 1423

RIYADH, May 7: The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) said it has approved Islamic financing facilities worth $388 million for its member states.

The Jeddah-based bank said in a statement, received on Tuesday, that the financing included $100 million for eight development projects in seven member states and $278 million to finance imports and exports. The remainder was in grants.

The statement said Pakistan would get $40 million to finance imports of crude and refined oil products and Egypt would receive $25 million to import basic goods and another $22 million to help finance the building of a hospital.

Bangladesh would receive $50 million to finance imports of crude and refined oil products and Iran would get $15 million to import urea as well as $10 million to finance palm oil imports.—Reuters