RIYADH, 6 October 2005 — The board of directors of Saudi Industrial Development Fund held a meeting on Saturday under the chairmanship of Yousif ibn Ibrahim Al-Bassam and considered loan applications for the erection and expansion of industrial projects. It approved a total of over SR1.71 billion in loans for 15 projects in different industrial sectors. The projects cover production and distribution of natural gas to serve factories of the Industrial City of Riyadh, insulation sheets, prayer rugs and carpets, variety of pastry, sambousa dough, mamoul and bread, plastbau wall and ceiling panels, craft paper and cardboard, variety of redbrick types, oxygen and nitrogen gases, liquefied argon and krypton-xenon mix, non-woven fabrics, gypsum powder and decorative products, motor vehicle tires, polypropylene non-spun texture, iron billets made of scrap steel, and polypropylene/polyamide yarns.
“Approval of these projects reflects the growing trust on the part of investors, in the solidarity of the Saudi economy, which encouraged them to invest in major projects,” SIDF’s acting Director General Mohammed ibn Salem Al-Dobalb said. Such a trend is expected to continue in the future for many investors in the domestic industrial sector and confirms the government’s predictions toward increase of the fund’s capital to SR20 billion, he said, adding that since its inception SIDF has committed SR51.21 billion in loans for the erection and expansion of 2,701 industrial projects.
