Kafalah Program, which funds small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has taken accelerated steps towards achieving its goal of overcoming the financing constraints of economically viable SMEs, which do not have the capacity to provide the required guarantees to funding donors.
Over the past 12 years, more than 10,000 SMEs have benefited from funding by participating banks with a cumulative annual growth rate of 42.7 percent, according to a recent report.
In 2017 alone, the number of small and medium-sized companies participating in Kafalah reached 1,793, an increase of 4.9 percent compared to 2016, the report said.
The amount of funds granted by participating banks, Saudi banks as well as Emirates NBD, and guaranteed by the Kafalah program for small and medium-sized enterprises has exceeded SR21 billion since launching the program in 2006 until the end of 2017.
The Saudi banks collaborating with the program confirmed their strong commitment to empowering small and medium-sized enterprises and facilitating their success, thereby contributing to the national economy and to achieving Vision 2030, which aims at raising the GDP contribution of SMEs in the Kingdom from 20 percent to 35 percent.
Kafalah is one of the leading national programs that have achieved many milestones since late 2006. In its first operating year, the program provided 51 bank guarantees for 36 companies.
However, these numbers as well as that of participating SMEs continuously increased until the program achieved the ambitious objectives of its 10-year strategic plan ahead of schedule.
The program has undergone substantial developments in its policies and procedures, which also reflected on the ever-evolving requirements of the SME sector that need to be met in order to enable the companies to contribute to the economic and social developments of the Kingdom.
