RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s National Development Fund continues to show its support to firms and individuals in the third quarter, as it unveiled a raft of approvals for finance incentive packages for sectors across the board, including media production, agriculture, and tourism.
The NDF’s Board of Directors approved a finance incentive package for the Cultural Development Fund’s budget worth SR750 million ($200 million). The investment aims to attract media production companies, along with another program worth SR300 million to finance the gaming and esports sector in the third quarter, according to a press statement.
The Agricultural Development Fund approved financing loans and credit facilities with a value of more than SR2 billion in several regions of the Kingdom over the same period.
In the third quarter, the Social Development Bank witnessed a remarkable rise in financing, as it provided services to 4,300 small and emerging enterprises, along with 10,000 freelancers.
There were also 19,000 beneficiaries in social financing, and 37,000 in the entrepreneurship training program.
The Real Estate Development Fund signed 24,460 supported financing contracts in the third quarter, with a total value that exceeding SR16 billion.
The Tourism Development Fund signed a tripartite agreement with Ennismore company and Al Rajhi Capital to establish a hospitality investment fund that will advance lifestyle hotels with a capital of SR1.5 billion, the statement added.
TDF also launched its Tourism Investment Portal, designed to provide digital services for investors, entrepreneurs and organizations in the tourism sector.
The press statement noted that TDF’s Aoun Tourism program aims to provide support to over 2,000 micro and small tourist establishments with a capital of up to SR500 million.
According to the statement, Saudi Industrial Development Fund in the third quarter also launched its first environmental, social, and governance practices Intelligence Report — “Enabling Sustainable Industrial Growth in Saudi Arabia” — which aims to illustrate the ESG practices adopted by the Fund, and display examples of clients’ applications.
The press statement added that the NDF continued to support countries in the third quarter, with beneficiaries including Pakistan, Albania, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Cameroon, and Kyrgyzstan.
