At a time of declining credit worldwide, King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has ordered the injection of SR10 billion into the Saudi Bank of Credit and Savings to help the Bank accept loan applications from eligible borrowers, said Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Minister of Finance, in a statement to Saudi Press Agency (SPA) Saturday night. Coupled with the available assets of the bank, this increase in the money supply will be allocated for individual social loans triggered by specific needs such as marriage, family needs, and home re-modeling, the statement said. Minister Al-Assaf said: “This kind royal gift comes as an extension of the King's decisions and directives inspired by the needs of citizens, especially those of low-income earners.” The minister said that hundreds of thousands of needy families in the Kingdom will benefit from those loan opportunities ranging between SR5,000 – SR45,000. In the current year, the bank has approved nearly 180,000 social loans of SR4.3 billion for eligible citizens of a monthly income of less than SR7,000.
