RIYADH: According to new data, credit facilities given to micro, small, and medium-sized businesses in Saudi Arabia increased 17.04 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2024, reaching SR307.4 billion ($82 billion).
According to SAMA, the Saudi Central Bank, 94 percent of these came from Saudi banks, with the remaining 6 percent coming from financial corporations.
The facilities made up 19.5% of the credit portfolios of finance businesses and 8.8% of the total lending portfolios of banks. The government is showing significant and continued support for these businesses by encouraging financial institutions to devote 20% of their loan portfolios to this industry.
With the help of recent changes, Saudi Arabia’s investment and startup processes have become more straightforward, and the sector’s contribution of the GDP has increased from 21% in 2013 to 35% in Vision 2030.
The largest portion of credit facilities in the second quarter—54 per cent, or SR167.31 billion—went to medium-sized businesses.
Despite having a reduced overall share, micro firms saw significant growth, increasing their credit by 45.53 percent to SR33.7 billion. During the same time period, credit to small businesses, which accounts for 35 percent of MSME finance, increased by 26.84 percent to SR106.39 billion.
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