Saudi Arabia has unveiled two initiatives, official sources said, that are expected to help the country boost production and manufacturing.
The National Industrial Development and Logistics Program or NIDLP has launched the initiatives along with the Riyad Bank, said the sources.
The two schemes are called “We finance, you manufacture” and “We invest, you manufacture.”
They are under the sponsorship of the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources and NIDLP Chairman Bandar Al-Khorayef.
The first initiative, “We finance, you manufacture”, aims at localizing 50 products in five sectors with a value of SAR4 billion ($1.07 billion), said the sources.
The five sectors are payment balance, the transport sector, machinery and equipment, food, medicines and medical devices.
The initiatives are targeted at three categories for small, medium, and large enterprises that serve local and foreign investors, where the value of imports of these five targeted sectors in 2020 reached more than SAR70 billion ($18.67 billion).
The second initiative, “We invest, you manufacture”, aims at financing investment funds specialized in the industrial sector in three sector with a value of SAR2 billion (more than $530 million).
The initiatives are apparently in line with strategies such as localizing the manufacturing of products and the Sharik Program in terms of partnership between the public and private sectors, localizing the payment balance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the national investment strategy.
They are also said to be aimed at increasing the contribution of local content, enhancing the financing environment in the country for localizing industries, encouraging local and foreign investors to enter the industrial sector, and expanding existing factories to cover new products.
The initiatives are also said to be aligned with the goals and aspiration of the Saudi Vision 2030, which seeks to increase the contribution of these sectors in providing a diversified, solid, and sustainable economy.
The two initiatives will contribute to realizing at least 35 goals of the Saudi Vision 2030, improving Saudi Arabia’s ranking in 10 indicators of global ease of doing business and developing 14 economic and social aspects, said the official sources.