RIYADH, Dec 10: Saudi Arabia has agreed to increase its share in the Jeddah based Islamic Development Bank’s subscribed capital by 902.19 million Islamic dinars ($1.2 billion), bringing its total share to 5.15 billion Islamic dinars or $6.85 billion.

The new amount would be paid to the bank over 20 years beginning from 2016, it was announced after the Saudi weekly cabinet meeting.

Saudi Arabia is the largest shareholder in the 56 member bank that finances development projects in member countries. It is followed by Libya, Iran, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Kuwait, Algeria and Pakistan.

The move comes after IDB increased its authorised capital from $45 billion (30 billion Islamic dinars) to $150 billion (100 billion dinars). The capital increase will enable the IDB to meet the growing development requirements of member countries.

The IDB decision to increase its subscribed capital was taken by its board of governors at their meeting in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe. Saudi Minister of Finance Ibrahim Al-Assaf chaired the meeting. The Dushanbe meeting also increased the bank’s subscribed capital from 18 billion Islamic dinars to 50 billion Islamic dinars.