As the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact the Saudi economy, the government and institutions in the kingdom have been quick to roll out stimulus packages as relief measures to support businesses and prop up the economy.

Here are some of the top relief packages announced across the kingdom:

The Saudi government announced a 120 billion riyals ($31.9 billion) financial stimulus package to mitigate the economic crisis.

The package consists of initiatives worth 70 billion riyals to support the private sector, including the postponement of tax payments and exemptions of some government dues.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) introduced a 50 billion riyals package to support the banking sector, financial institutions and SMEs. A funding of 30 billion riyals has been granted for deferred bank payments by SMEs for six months. SMEs will also be given concessional loans of up to 13.2 billion riyals from banks to maintain their operations, contribute to economic growth and maintain employment rates.

Saudi Arabia's Social Development Bank (SDB) has announced a package of more than 9 billion riyals to help micro-enterprises and small businesses. The programme will benefit 6,000 new and existing start-ups.

As part of the initiative, the bank created a healthcare portfolio to fund about 1000 medical units through raising their operational capacity during the pandemic. SDB also offered a six-month grace period for repayment of installments.

The Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has allocated $2.3 billion to help member states combat the pandemic. IsDB brings together 57-member countries across four continents, with Saudi Arabia being the major shareholder.

The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) announced in April $850 million in emergency financing to member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). IsDB is the most prominent shareholder of Jeddah-based ITFC.

Dammam-based Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) has rolled-out a $500 million fund to support its clients in member countries and the region amid the coronavirus outbreak and oil price fluctuations. The support package will be deployed to support sustainable impact-driven projects within the areas of utilities, renewables, petrochemicals, amongst other energy sub-sectors.

(Reporting by Gerard Aoun; editing by Seban Scaria)

( gerard.aoun@refinitiv.com)

#Saudi Arabia #COVID-19 #SAMA #Economy

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