Saudi SME growth critical for nation’s economy, say experts as bank pledges more than $26m funding

Saudi SME growth critical for nation’s economy, say experts as bank pledges more than $26m funding

JEDDAH: A memorandum of understanding worth $26.2 million has been signed providing finance for small and medium enterprises at the Islamic Development Bank’s annual meeting, Saad bin Abdulaziz Al-Khalb, CEO of Saudi Exim Bank told Arab News.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Al-Khalb said: “SMEs are a very important player in the global economy and in any economy contribute up to 90 percent in some economies and, in Saudi Arabia, the contribution at the beginning of the Vision 2030 baseline was 20 percent, and the aim and the target is to reach 35 percent by 2030.”

Al-Khalb said despite this SMEs needed to diversify their operations for the export market.

“The contribution of SMEs is important to the GDP (gross domestic product) of Saudi Arabia, they need to expand to an international and regional market, which will happen through exports,” he added.

But he said SMEs were the underserved segment in terms of trade financing, and 57 percent of the SME trade financing requests were declined on an annual basis from a commercial bank.

“This is the role of SaudiExim Bank and development banks and entities to provide a bridge for this gap, to provide a financial solution for SMEs to export,” he