Saudi Arabia has unveiled a stimulus package to begin next year with money to support housing construction as well as fee waivers for small businesses.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman issued a royal decree approving 72 billion riyals ($19.2 billion) worth of measures to stimulate growth in the private sector next year (2018), and 200 billion riyals ($53.3 billion) to extend over four years.
Reuters published a factbox that highlights the focus of the stimulus package as well as the planned timing of certain measures. The spending breakdown is as follows:
— Residential housing loans worth 21.3 billion riyals ($5.68 billion)
— A 10 billion riyal fund to support economic projects ($2.67 billion)
— 1.5 billion riyals to support distressed companies ($400 million)
— A 2.8 billion riyal government fund will be created to invest in smaller companies ($750 million)
— 400 million riyals will be spent on highly efficient air conditioning equipment ($106 million)
— 5 billion riyals of export financing ($1.33 billion)
— 800 million riyals to boost the capital of Kafalah, a program which lends to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) ($213.33 million)
— 1.6 billion riyals of indirect financing to SMEs ($430 million)
— 7 billion riyals worth of customs fees will be returned to SMEs ($1.87 billion)
— 5 billion riyals for a program supporting large investments; the government did not give details ($1.33 billion)
— 2.56 billion riyals of spending on the country’s broadband and fiber optics infrastructure ($680 million)
–13.87 billion riyals to promote advanced construction techniques ($3.7 billion)
In an interview with Bloomberg, Minister of Commerce and Investment Majed Al-Qassabi said that through 17 separate initiatives, the government hopes to stimulate job creation for the private sector. The Ministry will also oversee legal reforms including the finalization of a bankruptcy law in three months, Al-Qassabi said.
