RIYADH, 16 Dec. – The Board of Directors of the Saudi Export-Import Bank (Saudi EXIM) on Thursday endorsed the bank’s five-year corporate strategy, which would go into effect as of January 1st, 2022.
Putting forth an optimistic outlook with ambitious goals, the new strategy was endorsed during the board’s fourth meeting for 2021, presided over by His Excellency Bandar bin Ibrahim Alkhorayef, the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources and Chairman of the Board of Saudi EXIM.
Accounting for strategic national interests and priorities, Saudi EXIM’s strategy is in line with other pertinent national strategies. The strategy team had met with and probed the opinions and visions of several experts and strategic leaders before writing an ambitious five-year strategy that meets the Kingdom’s financial and economic targets in the country’s 2022 budget. The strategy also integrates with the National Export Strategy, the National Industry Strategy, the National Localization Strategy, and the National Foreign Trade Strategy.
In drafting the strategy, Saudi EXIM prioritized exporters, who shared their experiences, challenges, and aspirations regarding export financing. The bank also probed domestic Saudi commercial banks and other lending institutions for their experiences, plans, and outlooks, to ensure collaboration to allocate funds to support exports.
As endorsed by the board, the strategy sets a range of ambitious targets to alleviate the deficiency in export financing, mitigate the inherent risks in exporting and re-exporting non-petroleum goods and services by Saudi exporters, and empowering local banks and credit companies to help support the Kingdom’s non-petroleum exports through financing products, insurance, and effective partnerships with national, regional, and international institutions. The framework also established strategic initiatives and performance indicators that help Saudi EXIM build capabilities and measure progress over the next five years.
Based on the new strategy and the directives of the National Development Fund, and in close cooperation with other entities related to Saudi exports, the bank has set up a comprehensive working plan as a key driver of growth in non-petroleum Saudi exports for the next few years. With the plan, the bank aims to implement national policies of supporting exports, enhancing their competitiveness to access new markets, and develop partnerships that would open up more opportunities for investments and more diversity across the gamut of Saudi exports.
Saudi EXIM’s position as a national credit agency has allowed the seamless provision of credit products and solutions geared towards supporting exports and facilitating lasting cooperation with exporters. As the bank activates its five-year strategy, Saudi EXIM aims to share expertise from lending and credit experts to exporters, powering the growth of emerging sectors and their contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) in the process.
