Dr. Abdulhamid Al-Khalifa has been the director general of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) since November 2018.
Elected at OFID’s June 2018 Ministerial Council meeting, Al-Khalifa replaces Suleiman Al-Herbish, who served three terms as OFID director general between 2003 and 2018.
Prior to his appointment at OFID, Al-Khalifa was deputy secretary-general of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund from 2014 to 2018 and adviser to the secretary-general from 2010 to 2014.
He has also held a number of leadership positions at the World Bank Group and served the government of Saudi Arabia in various capacities.
Al-Khalifa holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Miami, Florida, and a master’s in applied economics from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
During OFID’s annual ministerial meeting in Vienna, Al-Khalifa said: “OFID’s vision is to be a relevant, agile and efficient development finance institution that can deliver maximum development impact to its partner countries, while becoming self-sustainable in financing its operations.”
Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan headed the Saudi delegation at the meeting.
The Kingdom is the largest stakeholder in the fund, which was established in 1976 with the aim of contributing to the social and economic development of emerging and less-advanced countries. OFID’s financial aid has so far benefited 134 countries.
