AL-KHOBAR – Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih announced on Sunday that the Saudi export and import bank (Exim) will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2019. He said the bank will include many products that serve international exporters and buyers to meet all their financing needs and will be open to international markets.

The minister made the remarks while attending a function of exchanging exports financing initiatives of companies, which are beneficiaries of the Export Financing Initiative, organized by the Saudi Exports Development Authority (Saudi Exports).

Deputy Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Abdul Aziz Al-Abdul Karim and Secretary General of the Saudi Exports Saleh Al-Salami attended the ceremony.

The initiative is a landmark step toward setting up of the bank. Saudi Exports said earlier that the Exim Bank with a capital of SR30 billion will be set up to provide financing to local exporters and foreign importers in line with international best practices in export finance. The authority said the bank will bridge the gaps in financial services being provided to the export and import sector in the Kingdom. — SG