JEDDAH: The biggest obstacle facing many Islamic Development Bank member countries is not access to capital but weak implementation capacity that prevents development plans from becoming bankable projects, IsDB Group Chairman Mohammed Al-Jasser said.
Speaking to Arab News after securing a new five-year mandate, Al-Jasser said governments across the lender’s 57 member states often have clear development priorities but struggle to translate them into deliverable outcomes.
“If I had to identify one overarching structural constraint, it would be the gap between development ambition and implementation capacity,” he said.
He added that many member countries have clear priorities, but they still face constraints in project preparation, institutional coordination, access to affordable financing, and the ability to turn strategies into bankable, scalable results.
The comments come as the Jeddah-based multilateral lender seeks to expand its development role amid rising geopolitical tensions, climate pressures and growing financing needs across emerging economies.
