RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, CMC — The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) celebrated its 50th anniversary on Sunday night with its Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Faisal AlQahtani, saying that the fund stands ready to help the Caribbean meet its developmental agenda, including responding to climate change.
The fund was established by a royal decree and started operating in 1975. Since then, it has provided over 800 loans to finance projects in 100 countries around the world, AlQahtani told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) ahead of a gala dinner here to mark the diamond anniversary.
“Let me take it from the last year only: SFD has signed about 40 loan agreements with 29 countries, and nine of those countries are Caribbean countries,” AlQahtani told CMC.
“So we take great pride in our contribution to small islands developing states, and we are expanding our operations exponentially in those countries from the feeling that we know they are vulnerable to climate change,” he added.
AlQahtani said this has influenced the SFD’s expansion into the Caribbean and the Pacific, which resulted in the nine loan agreements last year.
“And this year, we signed two loan agreements and are planning to do more. The pipeline is quite substantial, and we’re working on it to tackle it over the rest of this year and at the beginning of next year.” Watch video
He said the SDF finances “all types of projects” but, in addition to the priorities of the borrowing country, focuses on social and transportation projects.
“We consider the priorities of the recipient countries to be priorities for us. Usually, we provide a development plan with our partners over the next five years to tackle their priorities and finance them gradually over the next five years.”
AlQahtani said that in light of the fund’s consideration of climate change, it is financing a solar plant in Belize.
“And also we extended the loan for Grenada for climate-smart structures. And the last loan that we signed earlier this year is with St. Vincent and the Grenadines to reconstruct some of the affected buildings and facilities by climate change, modernize them, upgrade them to be resilient, and resist all climate actions,” AlQahtani said.
He acknowledged that many development funds are worldwide but said that SFD is “not competing with anyone.
“We are partnering with other institutions. At the same time, we are unique regarding swiftness,” he said, adding that the approval cycle varies from four to six months.
“Our teams are very swift. Once we receive the requests, we consider them. We go through the rigorous process,” AlQahtani told CMC, adding, “We make sure that we do not overburden our partners with debt that they are not capable of taking those loans.”
The SFD sends its technical team to assess the projects to avoid debt overburden.
“We come back with a report presented to our board of directors, and they see it from all angles. They study it 360, and based on that, they provide their approvals. Right after the approval, we proceed with the signing.”
AlQahtani told CMC that the SFD ensures the money is spent as intended.
“We never extend our assistance to governments. We extend it to service providers, vendors, consultants, contractors, and suppliers. That’s the way that we implement our projects.”
He said periodic follow-up missions conduct on-site audits, financial audits, and technical audits, “and based on those reports, we extend our withdrawal applications and payments to the vendors who are implementing those projects.”
In his address to the dinner, Ahmed bin Aqeel AlKhateeb, chairman of the SFD board of directors, said he is proud of the Kingdom’s achievements through the fund.
“With these achievements financing over 800 development projects and programs in over 100 developing countries, with a total value of more than US$20 billion in different vital sectors such as education, health water, energy, water, transportation, and others, it is one of our sources of pride and inspiration,” AlKhateeb told an estimated 500 guests.
He said the fund has impacted the lives of millions of people.
“We have seen these health projects funded by the fund. These projects have allowed people to get the comprehensive health care they deserve. The fund has contributed to funding 77 projects resulting in the establishment of 325 healthcare facilities in 45 countries with the capacity of more than 25,000 beds,” he said.
He said that these facilities have provided healthcare services to communities that had not before had the chance to receive advanced medical care.
In the transportation sector, the fund has financed 230 projects in 71 countries, including airports, ports, and highways.
“These have had the highest impact in facilitating the commute and transportation of millions of beneficiaries between countries and regions and supporting the operations of commercial exchange,” AlKhateeb said.
In the education sector, he said that SFD has worked on enabling human capabilities and creating job opportunities in developing countries by contributing to financing 84 projects, leading to the establishment of approximately 600 education facilities serving approximately one million students annually.
AlKhateeb further said that the SFD has contributed to enhancing the transfer of accumulated expertise in the Saudi private sector to other developing countries to ensure that the projects are done and implemented to the highest international standards.
Download video – SDF’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Faisal AlQahta
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