Saudi King Salman on Thursday issued a decree allocating 72
billion riyals ($19.2 billion) of stimulus funds to support the Saudi
private sector.
The package aims to boost the role of the
private sector in light of economic reforms to diversify the Saudi
economy away from oil following a slump in crude prices.
The
funds will be used to finance 16 initiatives, the largest of which
earmarks $5.7bn to provide subsidised housing loans to citizens,
according to the official news agency SPA.
The decree
states that $1.33bn will be used as a first installment for the newly
established exports promotion fund which will eventually have capital of
$8bn.
More than $2.6bn will be used to support projects
and $3.7bn will be allocated to support construction technology, the
decree said.
The remaining funds will be spent on a
string of smaller projects carried out by the private sector with the
aim of strengthening the competitiveness of the Saudi economy.
