Amlak - Follow-ups
The Industrial Development Fund has achieved great successes in several fields, including supporting and lending to pharmaceutical industry projects, indicating its keenness to support pharmaceutical industry projects and emphasized in a comment received by “Amlak” a copy of it - in response to the investigation published in several newspapers and magazines: He assured investors in the pharmaceutical industries of the Fund's readiness to receive completed loan applications and evaluate them according to the procedures and policies adopted in the Fund.

Cost of Lending
The text of the comment issued by the Fund's spokesperson Sulaiman bin Abdullah Al-Zughaibi reads as follows: “With reference to what was mentioned in the report of Riyadh Trade Magazine in its issue No. 617 for the month of Rabi'II, 1435 AH, entitled “Despite its importance to health security ... In which Dr. Sami Abdulkarim Al-Abdulkarim, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Medical Committee at the Riyadh Chamber, referred to the lack of government support, the difficulty of obtaining a loan from the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, which takes at least 2-3 years, and the high cost of lending from the Fund (4-5%).”

We emphasize the importance of the Saudi pharmaceutical industry. <We also emphasize the state's interest in providing the necessary support to all economic and social sectors for the development of the country and the welfare of citizens through the annual allocations in the state budget as well as through the financial support provided by specialized government funds. As for the Saudi pharmaceutical industry, the Fund has approved 29 loans worth SR 1.1 billion to help finance 18 pharmaceutical projects in various regions of the Kingdom with an investment volume of SR 2.4 billion. These factories have contributed to covering part of the local demand, transferring knowledge and technology, providing job opportunities and other benefits that reflect on the economy in general.
Financing procedures

<As for the report's reference to the difficulty of obtaining a loan from the Saudi Industrial Development Fund and that it takes at least 2-3 years, this statement is contrary to reality, as the length of time during which the loan is approved depends on the adequacy of the information provided by the investors and their responsiveness in completing the information requested by the Fund. It is known that the financing procedures followed by the Fund in its evaluation of industrial projects are accurate and require obtaining sufficient information from investors so that the Fund can conduct detailed studies of the feasibility of industrial projects from the technical, marketing and financial aspects. The time period for evaluating loan applications after all the information is completed is usually no more than three months.
Longer repayment periods
Due to the nature of the pharmaceutical industry, which is different from other industries, the Fund has allocated it with facilities commensurate with its nature, as pharmaceutical industry loans are given a longer grace period and a longer repayment period from the start of commercial operation due to the sensitivity of this industry and the special design and manufacturing certificates, accreditation certificates and licenses for pharmaceutical products. In addition, the approval of pharmaceutical products from official authorities often takes long periods of time. Based on the Fund's experience and expertise in this sector, its lending policy for the sector includes conditions regarding access to technology, technical support and qualified management to ensure that the chances of success of these projects are maximized.
Soft loans
As for the high cost of borrowing from the Fund (4-5%), this percentage mentioned in the report is incorrect, as the costs of the Fund's loans are easy and do not reach the percentages mentioned in the report and are in return for the actual effort and time spent by Fund staff to evaluate industrial projects that apply for loans to ensure their feasibility and assess their chances of success. The follow-up costs are actual costs, as these costs are calculated based on the number of hours spent by the Fund's officials in following up on the project to ensure its safety and address any obstacles it may face in a timely manner to minimize the chances of project failure.
At the same time, we would like to emphasize to investors in the pharmaceutical industries the readiness of the Fund to receive and evaluate loan applications with complete information according to the procedures and policies adopted in it, and at the same time we would like to remind investors of the specificity and sensitivity of this industry and the need to make all arrangements and complete all requirements (technical, marketing, administrative, etc.) necessary for the success of industrial projects in it and take into account that the procedures for registering drugs with the responsible authorities take some time, which may initially delay the commercial production of these projects.