Tariq Sulaiman al- Farsi, CEO of Al Raffd Fund said that as per the data of Oman Development Bank and as of the end of 2015, Al Raffd Fund provided more than RO66 million to finance 1668 projects at the different economic sectors.
He said in a statement that the Al Raffd team visited 1571 projects of the funded projects and found that these projects generated more than 3000 job opportunities for Omani males and females; 42% of which were already job seekers. The projects funded cover all governorates and wilayats of the Sultanate but with varying degrees with the Governorate of Muscat securing the highest funding rates by the Fund.
28.5% of the project owners are women compared to 71.5% for men. In terms of the businesses funded by the Fund, 43.5% of the funds went for trade, followed by industry and services 29%, transport 9%, agriculture, fisheries and animal wealth 3% , craft industries 2.7% and tourism 1.2% , he added.
“The repayment rate as of the end of December 2015 stood at 91.7% , which is good. 50 project owners financed by the Fund paid their laons in full before the maturity date, he furthered.
‘Al Raffd Fund managed to secure more than 100 contracts worth of RO3 million per year, he continued. The follow up surveys point out that the major challenge’s before projects owners are complicated procedures, delay in payment of dues (49%) and poor management of the projects themselves (51%), he said . ‘The stumbling projects as of the end of December 2015 stood at 0.3%’ , he concluded .