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Al Raffd funds RO 99m among 2,563 SMEs

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Fund
Muscat: The Al Raffd Fund has financed about 2,563 loans till April 2020 across the Sultanate’s governorates since its inception covering various economic sectors, with an amount exceeding RO 99 million. This was revealed during this year’s second meeting of the Board of Directors of the Al Raffd Fund. The virtual meeting was chaired by Dr Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidi, Minister of Commerce and Industry. All the board members were present in the meeting. The Fund provided 4,229 direct job opportunities to Omani youths distributed among males (64.7 per cent) and females (35.3 per cent). Repayment rate has reached 83.9 per cent of the loan’s value. Tariq al Farsi, CEO of the Fund, confirmed Al Raffd continues to provide various types of support to SMEs, based on the Royal Directives of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik to care about the entrepreneurial sector and SMESs, and also believing in its importance in advancing the development wheel as a primary partner building the nation. During the meeting, the members were briefed on the initiatives that the Al Raffd Fund has worked to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on projects. The meeting also addressed the measures taken to ensure safety of all, work to develop appropriate plans and solutions, and implement more initiatives to contain the effects of the current situation on economy especially when a large number of entrepreneurs were affected due to the lockdown on some activities and the decline in purchases, which caused a decrease in sales rate for projects benefiting from the fund. Al Farsi stressed, “Since the beginning of the Covid- 19 in the Sultanate began, the Fund has worked to implement the decisions of the Supreme Committee including postponing loan installments of small and medium enterprises for a period of six months, in coordination with the Oman Development Bank. The board of directors decided to reduce the deferred premium returns by (50 per cent) of the total returns, which is equivalent to RO 292,685.” Al Farsi indicated that one of the initiatives adopted by the Fund was 'Goodness for all' during Ramadhan by publishing a guide that includes a list of the names of SMEs, benefiting from the Fund's loans, working in food and restaurant activities in all governorates of the Sultanate. The support was through buying the Ramadhan basket from owners of these enterprises and distributing them to families in need and individuals affected by the Corona pandemic. “The other initiative was “shop from home” in cooperation with MoCI and Riyada by urging all beneficiaries to provide home delivery services in innovative ways to reduce the impacts of low sales” Al Farsi added . Moreover, SMEs were included in the national campaign launched by the Nama Group (for a lasting prosperity) to provide facilities and support to affected groups to pay electricity bills. About Sanad centers for services and the job opportunities they offer, Al Farisi said “The number of Sanad centers for services increased in the first quarter of 2020 by 7 per cent by 853 centers compared to the first quarter of 2019. Job opportunities in the centers increased to (0.3 per cent) during the first quarter of 2020 compared to same period in 2019 to reach more than 2300”.