$293mn Boost For Saudi SME’s

The Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) has approved 13 loans worth SR 1.1 billion ($293 million), to help establish nine new industrial projects in the country, reported the official Saudi Press Agency, quoting the fund’s director general, Ali bin Abdullah Al-Ayed.

The projects are in the fields of chemical and consumer industries, building materials, and engineering sectors, he said.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia’s Tasnee Sahara Olefins Company (TSOC) said that one of its affiliates had signed a SR600 million ($160 million) financing agreement with SIDF. The amount will be used to construct two acrylic acid plants and a butyl acrylate plant in Jubail, the company said.

The plants are expected to begin operations in the first quarter of 2013 and will supply materials to the Super Absorbent Polymers (SAP) project in the kingdom.

During the Saudi Small and Medium Enterprises Forum in February this year, the Saudi finance minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf also asserted that the fund was actively funding innovative projects in the country.

“The SIDF pays special attention to the export sector as it plays an important role in developing small and medium enterprises,” he said. “It has provided loans worth more than SR22 billion to export businesses,” he added.