New limit will ease access to international trade for Palestinian importers and exporters
By Nibal Zgheib
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is boosting Palestinian export and import activity by providing an additional US$5 million in trade finance to Arab Islamic Bank (AIB). The increase doubles AIB’s total trade finance line to US$10 million.
The expanded limit to AIB will facilitate further trade flows between the West Bank and international markets, enabling the issuance of trade finance instruments at a time of constrained access to international banking services in the West Bank. The Bank’s support highlights AIB’s vital role in the Palestinian market and underscores the EBRD’s continued commitment to strengthening the local financial sector.
AIB joined the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) in 2023 with an initial limit of US$2 million This was increased twice to date to accommodate AIB’s growing trade finance business. Since joining, AIB has been actively using the facility, supporting several transactions to finance essential imports, including food and medical equipment.
AIB is the largest Islamic bank in the West Bank and Gaza, and a subsidiary of Bank of Palestine, an EBRD client since 2020. Since joining the TFP, AIB has gained access to a global network of more than 100 issuing banks and over 800 confirming banks, while AIB staff have benefited from EBRD led training and workshops on trade-finance best practices.
The EBRD’s TFP programme was launched in 1999 to promote international trade among the economies in the Bank’s regions, in the form of guarantees and short-term loans to selected participating banks and factoring companies for on-lending to local exporters, importers and distributors.
Since beginning operations in the West Bank and Gaza in 2017, the EBRD has approved 38 projects with a total investment volume of €196.5 million.
