DOHA: Qatar Development Bank (QDB) announced that the volume of approvals within Al Dhameen Program in the first half of 2018 amounted to about QR1.5bn, in addition to the issuance of guarantees of about QR1bn through 8 partner banks to more than 250 Qatari firms.
This was revealed by Jawahar Humaid Al Nuaimi (pictured), Director of Al Dhameen Program at QDB, during the “Best Partner Bank Award” ceremony, organized by QDB for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), on Monday.
Director of Al Dhameen Program said that Al Dhameen is an indirect lending program launched by QDB in 2010 to guarantee loans from commercial banks to private sector companies. The program is an achievement for QDB in removing the obstacles facing SMEs and the fruit of its new strategy, which represents an important step in playing an active role in supporting the private sector and, more particularly, SMEs.
She emphasised that Al Dameen is keen to facilitate financing procedures for sectors that are of great importance to the national economy such as industry, education, tourism, healthcare and value-added services, adding that it mainly targets new emerging companies.
Al Dhameen is a QDB initiative encouraging banks to offer to finance to startups and SMEs that are unable to provide the necessary financing guarantees or collaterals. It does not offer direct financing to SMEs. Instead, it issues a letter of guarantee to the financing bank, promising to repay up to 85 percent of the allocated funds (not exceeding QR15m). This allows startup and SME owners to obtain the financing they need from a list of participating banks to launch or grow their business.
QDB strives to provide comprehensive and necessary support to accelerate the growth of Qatars private sector and play its pivotal role in meeting the economic diversification and contribute towards a sustainable and competitive economy.
