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Merge 104.8 | 15 June 2020
Oman’s Al Rafd Fund has financed 2,563 loans at a value that surpasses OMR 99 million.
As Oman News Agency (ONA) reports, the Board of Directors of Al Rafd Fund held via videoconferencing its second meeting of the year under the chairmanship of Dr. Ali bin Masoud Al-Sunaidi, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Chairman of the Fund’s Board of Directors.
As per ONA, the meeting reviewed activities of the Al Rafd Fund up until the end of April 2020. The Fund financed 2,563 loans worth more than OMR 99 million since the beginning of the Fund’s work in all governorates of the Sultanate, including various economic sectors — providing 4,229 direct job opportunities for Omani youth. Of these opportunities, 64.7 per cent of them went to males and 35.3 per cent to females, with the payment rate reaching 83.9 per cent of the value of loans disbursed.
The meeting also reviewed the initiatives that the Fund has worked on to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on projects funded by it. The Fund has directly followed the challenges facing businesses in light of the coronavirus outbreak, and the measures taken to ensure the safety of all. Developing appropriate plans and solutions to address those challenges, the Fund also implemented a number of initiatives to help alleviate the impact of the current conditions on the economy, as a large number of entrepreneurs have been affected by the closure of some activities and the decline of sales.
The meeting valued the cooperation of real estate owners for their initiative in supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through a reduction or exemption of monthly rents.
Tariq bin Sulaiman Al-Farsi, CEO of Al Rafd Fund, affirmed that the fund is continuing to provide various types of support to SMEs, getting impetus from the Royal directives of His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik on paying attention to the SME sector.
Al-Farsi said that since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic began in the Sultanate, the Fund has implemented the decisions taken by the Supreme Committee — including postponing installments of SMEs loans for a period of six months in coordination with the Oman Development Bank.
As far as Sanad Services Centers are concerned, Al-Farsi said that the number of Sanad Services Centers increased in the first quarter of 2020 to 853 centres — an increase of 7 per cent, compared to the number in the first quarter of 2019. He also added that employment opportunities in the centres increased by 0.3 per cent to reach more than 2,300 job opportunities.
Source: ONA
(Also read: His Majesty the Sultan orders formation of new committee to deal with economic impact of COVID-19.)
