ITFC Chief Executive Officer Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol

By Zubair Al-Ansari, (AB/IINA),

Jeddah : The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector represents 80 percent of the economic fabric in Islamic countries, revealed Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, chief executive officer of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) – a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group.

Speaking to the International Islamic News Agency (IINA) on the sidelines of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the IDB Board of Governors, started Sunday in Jeddah, Eng. Sonbol said that the ITFC, since its inception in 2008, has supported the SME sector with more than $4 billion.

Sonbol underlined that the ITFC, as a member of the IDB Group, has been complementing the Bank’s continued efforts for 40 years in financing and developing trade in the Islamic world. He noted that the total operations completed by the IDB, in this regard, has so far exceeded $60 billion.

The CEO said that the ITFC has prepared a program for Saudi Arabia that would serve the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision. He added that the program was designed to boost the capabilities of the SME sector in the Kingdom, with the view to enabling it to export significantly and access to financial markets as well as providing expertise and knowledge to the sector in order to compete in big business.

Sonbol said that the ITFC and IDB are working with member states to improve the performance of the commercial sector by designing programs that would help these countries to reduce bureaucratic obstacles and others. He indicated that great improvement has been made in this regard, especially in the private sector, which is now more concerned with the rapid response to the needs than the public sector.