Qatar Development Bank continued to develop the support packages provided through the operating room, which it launched during the first quarter of this year in response to regional changes. Based on the views of the private sector during the last period, and to determine the needs of the national industrial sector, the bank announced in a press statement yesterday the expansion of the scope of the “Logistics Support Fund,” by increasing the size of the fund to reach 400 million Qatari riyals, thus raising the ceiling of support allocated to each factory, through a non-refundable grant to support imports.
The Fund supports Qatar-based factories operating in all sectors, through a non-refundable grant that supports imports of raw materials, covering up to 80% of the increase in the costs of shipping raw materials compared to their normal levels before the recent developments that the region witnessed, with the aim of enhancing the continuity of their business and their ability to adapt to fluctuations and deal with them with great flexibility.
To facilitate access to the grant, the bank provides a comprehensive digital experience, which includes the various procedures and stages of application, from creating and following up the application, to viewing the amount of support allocated to the factory and the remaining balance for use. He stated in his statement that the program includes various shipping routes, including air, sea, and land transportation.
The number of applications approved by the bank within the “Logistics Support Fund” has reached 436 applications, while the number of factories that have applied for the grant has reached 154 factories to date.
Mr. Abdul Rahman bin Hisham Al Suwaidi, CEO of Qatar Development Bank, said: “We continue to develop our programs based on the needs of the private sector and the feedback we receive from companies and manufacturers. From this standpoint, we have worked to expand the scope of the grant and increase the size of the fund allocated to it to 400 million Qatari riyals, to support national manufacturers in maintaining the continuity of production, and to participate in mitigating the effects of the high costs of importing basic raw materials, which enhances manufacturers’ flexibility and gives them greater ability to face operational challenges and logistical variables.”
Al Suwaidi added: “The Logistics Support Fund is part of our plans to support the national industrial system and the competitiveness of the national product by supporting export operations in the first place, in line with the objectives of the Third National Development Strategy and the Qatar National Strategy for Manufacturing Industries 2024-2030. We have worked to launch it during the current phase and allocate it to support the costs of factory imports of key raw materials according to an exceptional path, in response to geopolitical developments and the disruptions witnessed in supply chains, as we will work to Gradually redirect the fund to achieve its main goal of supporting exports, once the costs of import logistics operations return to their normal levels.
