The UAE has approved a AED30 billion ($8.2 billion) package of financial support for businesses and start-ups.
The Emirates Development Bank (EDB) Strategy was approved on Monday by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Sheikh Mohammed said: “Advancing the national economy is a top priority that requires a joint effort of all our economic entities in the coming phase. We must adopt a distinctive vision that meets global trends and sustains development to maximise the industrial sector’s revenue and boost the broader economy.”
.@HHShkMohd approves Emirates Development Bank (EDB) Strategy to provide a sizeable AED30 billion financial support to businesses and start-ups in a major step to drive the national economyhttps://t.co/tEitp8nu4G pic.twitter.com/ziCeqbQRPS
— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) April 5, 2021
According to a statement, the strategy was launched to support the recently announced Operation 300bn, “to leverage the bank’s role as a key driver of the national economy to provide the largest support network for the industrial sector”.
Operation 300bn was launched last month as a 10-year comprehensive strategy to more than double the industrial sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP, positioning the UAE as a global industrial hub by 2031.
Sheikh Mohammed added: “The Emirates Development Bank Strategy presents a giant leap that will leverage the bank’s role as a key driver of the national economy. Providing effective financial solutions will support the role of SMEs as main players in shaping our national economy.”
Under the new strategy, the bank has allocated a portfolio of AED30 billion to support priority industrial sectors over a five-year period, which will contribute to financing more than 13,500 SMEs, creating 25,000 jobs.
Dr Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and chairman of EDB, revealed that the next phase would see the bank step up the financial support provided to the industrial sector. Its priorities include establishing partnerships with UAE banks to extend financial services to small and medium industrial companies and increasing its direct financing by 73 percent in 2021 to support priority sectors, while also focusing on underserved sectors with extensive financial solutions.
The bank will also launch a AED1 billion ($272.3 million) investment fund for start-ups and SMEs in 2022, targeting industrial companies in priority sectors that require financing.
Al Jaber said: “The new EDB strategy will help accelerate industrial development and the adoption of advanced technology through dedicated financing programs and will also provide dedicated investment funds that will support entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs.”
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