AL RAFFD FUND REVIEWS LOAN PORTFOLIO AT BOARD MEETING

MUSCAT: The Board of Directors of Al Raffd Fund on Wednesday held its second meeting in 2017 under the chairmanship of Dr Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Chairman of the Fund’s Board.

The Board reviewed the statistics of the loan portfolio, the mechanisms of developing work and ways to enhance means to follow up and develop projects of entrepreneurs benefiting from the funding support of the Fund.

The Board stressed the importance of continuing to support the financing of projects of entrepreneurs benefiting from the financing support of the Fund, especially value added projects in the promising sectors.

The Board also stressed the continued efforts to follow up and support the entrepreneurs financed by the Fund to ensure the continuity of their projects and to maintain the new job opportunities to ensure payment of installments of their loans on time.

The Board of Directors of the Al Raffd Fund approved a cooperation agreement with Oman Housing Bank (OHB), which deals with the facilitation of the housing bank loans for entrepreneurs and holders of facilities from the Al Raffd Fund.

The Board approved an agreement with Oman Air to provide facilities for entrepreneurs, including the reduction of ticket and shipping prices and the agreement with Sandan Company to provide industrial workshops for beneficiaries of Al Raffd Fund at special prices.

The Fund’s loan portfolio at the end of May 2017 indicates that 1,698 projects were funded in all governorates of the Sultanate covering the various economic sectors.

It provided 3,238 job opportunities for Omani youth registered in the The Public Authority for Social Insurance, distributed between 2,132 males by 66 per cent and 1,106 for females by 34 per cent.