JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Development Fund unveiled its first co-lending product, aiming to unlock more than SR1 billion ($270 million) in financing for cultural projects through public-private partnerships.
The program, announced at the Cultural Investment Conference in Riyadh, is designed to expand access to funding across cultural industries and attract more private capital into the sector, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The launched product will enable access to flexible financing solutions across various cultural sectors, supporting expansion, and contributing to enhancing financing access for entrepreneurs and startups.
Saudi Arabia’s cultural sector is expanding rapidly, having attracted $500 million in foreign direct investment and participation from 1,700 non-Saudi investors to date. The growth underscores the Kingdom’s ambition to position itself as a global cultural hub under its National Culture Strategy, launched in 2019.
The initiative reflects efforts to increase the private sector’s role in supporting cultural projects, job creation and economic diversification under Vision 2030.
In a post on its official X account, the CDF said: “We launch the first-of-its-kind joint funding initiative to support the growth of cultural projects, in a qualitative partnership with 5 leading financial institutions.”
Leading Saudi financial institutions participating in the initiative include Al-Raedah Finance, Manafa Finance, and Raya Financing, along with Lendo and Abdul Latif Jameel Finance, the CDF’s post added.
The new product uses a collaborative mechanism between the CDF and private financial institutions to multiply financing impact and expand access for enterprises and entrepreneurs, the SPA report added.
The initiative reflects the CDF’s commitment to developing innovative financial solutions that empower cultural projects, attract private investment, enhance cultural production, and strengthen the private sector’s role in sustaining growth.
The fund emphasized that the launch reaffirms its role as a center of excellence for financial empowerment, focusing on solutions that foster cultural projects, generate jobs, and contribute to the Kingdom’s gross domestic product.
