Saudi Arabia has unveiled a new stimulus plan worth 36 billion Saudi riyals ($9.6 billion) for small and medium firms to offset the negative impact of the coronavirus and it mainly targets the construction sector, the local media reported on Thursday.

The Private Sector Stimulus Office (PSSO), which was created by the government in 2017 to support the local private sector, said the initiative would benefit more than 17,500 companies in the Gulf Kingdom.

In a statement carried by local newspapers, PSSO said the scheme would provide soft-term loans with relatively low interest rates for those firms, boosting public investment in the companies through the government's Public Investment Fund, and partial refund of fees paid by those firms to the government.

The plan, the latest in a series of costly anti-coronavirus incentives announced by the government over the past weeks, will target mainly the construction, real estate, health and tourism sectors, the report said.

"This plan comprises six initiatives to support small and medium firms...some of the initiatives target the contracting sector and companies involved in the production of building materials...they are intended to stimulate that sector and enable those manufacturers to expand their operations through financial and non-financial incentives...this will contribute to boosting housing construction activity," it said.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

#Saudi Arabia #Construction #Real estate

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