$2.7 billion to finance Arab Trade Fund in 1999

The Arab League's assistant secretary general for economic affairs, Abdul Rahman El-Sahibani, said that the Arab Trade Fund (ATF) has decided to specify about $2.7 billion for financing commercial processes among the Arab countries during 1999.

He added that the volume of trade financed by the program amounted to $1.2 billion through the end of the 1998, clarifying that the fund will expand the process of financing and helping with the expenses of new Arab agencies, and that its present banking facilities amount to 87 banks currently in 18 Arab and three European countries.

El-Sahibani said that most of 1998's projects were centered in the Gulf region, Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, and Jordan.