Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s Social Development Bank has approved a SR12 billion programme to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and low-income families to reduce the financial and economic impacts of coronavirus on individuals and SMEs.
The move is in line with the keen interest of King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to reach out to the needs of their citizens in all walks of life and provide them with a decent living.
The 12 billion riyal package has been launched with support from the National Development Fund to provide start-up entrepreneurs with the seed capital that help me start a new business and ensure the sustainability of their businesses in the face of emergency crises.
Under the five-tenet programme, SR4 billion has been earmarked to support 100,000 families with low incomes in 2020, while SR2 billion will be directed towards 6,000 entrepreneurs to enable them to set up start-ups and micro and small businesses.
Another SR2 billion has been allotted to support small and medium healthcare facilities to increase their operational capacity and accelerate the pace of their businesses to enable them to face this difficult time.
The plan aims to support 50,000 small businesses that engaged in local value creation with 2 billion riyals.
The bank has also extended the deadline for all projects that were financed in 2019 and 2020 by six months, as it believes in the important role of entrepreneurs who have not been able to launch their projects yet, and thus has allocated SR2 billion for all deferred payments.
