COMCEC Trade Outlook 2017
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Furthermore, the COMCEC has initiated the Export Financing Scheme (EFS) and Islamic
Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) to contribute to financing
trade among the Member States.
The Export Financing Scheme (EFS) was first initiated by the COMCEC as the Longer-TermTrade
Financing Scheme. IDB was entrusted with the implementation of the EFS. The 10th IDB Annual
Meeting, held in March 1986 in Amman, Jordan, approved the Longer-Term Trade Financing
Scheme. The title of the Scheme was later changed to Export Financing Scheme (EFS) and it
became operational in 1988.
The EFS aims at promoting exports of non-conventional commodities by providing the necessary
short and long-term funds. The repayment periods under the Scheme were originally between 6
and 60 months for the intra-OIC export. This period has now been extended to ten years for
capital goods, such as ships, machinery etc. Each Member State participating in the EFS had one
or more national agencies for the Scheme. The role of the national agencies was to coordinate the
promotion of the EFS in their countries. Since its inception in 1988, cumulatively over an amount
of USD 3 billion of approvals were made under the Scheme.
After the establishment of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), in 2005,
all trade financing activities of the IDB, including the EFS, were brought under the ITFC. The ITFC
commenced business at the beginning of 2008. Most common modes of trade financing provided
by the ITFC are murabaha, installment sale and istisna’a.
Since its establishment, the ITFC has increased the volume of operations and business portfolio.
In this regard, total cumulative approvals and disbursements reached US$35.4 billion and
US$26.8 billion, respectively. In order to have greater impact, it also gives more emphasis on
providing finance to Least Developed Member Countries (LDMC’s), SMEs and strategic
commodities produced in the Member States such as oil, cotton, wheat etc.
The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) is a
subsidiary organ of the IDB. It was established in 1994 with an authorized capital of ID 100
million (about USD 127 million) and become operational in 1995. ICIEC has 42 Member
Countries. The objective of the ICIEC is to expand the scope of trade transactions and the flow of
investments among Member Countries of the OIC.