RIYADH — The Finance Guarantee Program for Small and Medium Enterprises (Kafalah Program) has been instrumental in the provision of financing worth SR432 million to 456 establishments owned by Saudi businesswomen during the first half of 2021. There has been an increase of 24 percent in the rate of beneficiaries of the funding during the period while compared to the same period of the previous year, Al-Eqtisadiah business daily reported. Kafalah is a program launched by the Ministry of Finance, represented by the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) and Saudi banks to promote financing to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) within the Kingdom. Five economic sectors for businesswomen have benefited from the program, of which the top is wholesale trade with 25 establishments at a value of SR60 million, and accommodation and food services comes second with 64 establishments with financing amounting to SR30 million. The manufacturing sector came third with 38 facilities with financing of SR56 million, and it is followed by the construction sector with 32 establishments with a value of financing of SR50 million, and the administrative services activities sector came in the fifth position with 22 facilities with a financing of SR31 million. Riyadh topped the list of regions that received support from the Kafalah Program with a total of 151 establishments, and it is followed by Makkah with 115 facilities, and the Eastern Province came third with 102 facilities. The program indicated that the high rate of funding for businesswomen came as a result of its working with a group of government agencies, including the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monsha'at), the Saudi Central Bank and SIDF. Supported by the Ministry of Finance and the Saudi local banks, the program is tailored to guarantee the bank a percentage of the finance credit given to SMEs in order to allow them to get finance from the bank after studying their economic feasibility.
