SAMA extends payment deferrals for 3 additional months

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) decided to extend the deferred payments program for 3 more months until December 14, 2020. 

The move came as part of SAMA’s efforts, which aim to enable the financial sector to play its key role in supporting the private sector, particularly the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, the central bank said in a statement.  

The number of beneficiaries from the program, since its launch on March 14, 2020, reached nearly 71,760 with SAR 50.6 billion deferred payments, exceeding the SAR 30 billion allocated for the program at the time of its launch.  

Contracts of finance companies have reached 1,123 with a total value of SAR 5.2 billion. The number of contracts of medium enterprises totaled 26,020 with a value of SAR 32.8 billion. Contracts of small enterprises reached 18,620 with a value of SAR 9.4 billion. In addition, contracts of micro-enterprises have reached 26,000 with a value of SAR 3.1 billion. 

Despite the challenges during the current exceptional period, financial soundness indicators of the banking sector demonstrated that the sector is sufficiently resilient to support the private sector in various economic activities.