Damascus-SANA
The Industrial Bank intensified its work to support and finance small and medium industrial, craft and other projects, as the number of loans granted to owners of this type of projects during the first half of this year reached 211 with a total value of more than 3 billion and 894 million Syrian pounds, with an estimated increase of about 2 billion and 600 million pounds over Same period last year.
The Director General of the bank, Dr. Omar Sidi, explained in a statement to SANA’s representative that according to the operations system, loans are granted to industrial and craft establishments that are completely or partially damaged, and the bank provides credit facilities for investment projects such as establishment, expansion and purchase, as well as for contractors and engineers through loans to finance the purchase of machinery and equipment necessary for their projects.
Sidi pointed out that out of a total of 211 loans in the first half of this year, 76 loans were granted to industrial and craft establishments, amounting to more than 2 billion pounds, including 12 loans for establishing projects and 135 loans for the rest of the commercial activities and contractors, at about one billion and 800 thousand pounds.
In a simple comparison with regard to bank accounts, according to the bank’s data, the number of bank accounts opened with the Industrial Bank since the implementation of Resolution No. 5-M-F for the year 2020 and so far has reached more than 20 thousand accounts, which is equivalent to half the number of accounts opened since the establishment of the bank until the implementation of the resolution 5-M-F At the beginning of February last year, it amounted to more than 42 thousand bank accounts.
In response to a question about the importance of loan guarantees, Sir stated that the majority of loans granted by the bank before 2011 were with personal guarantees or movable guarantees represented by machinery and equipment, as well as in the early years of the war on Syria, but these guarantees no longer have any value due to the departure of many guarantors The country and the destruction caused to the facilities as a result of terrorism, and there is no longer any point in throwing the reserve seizure. He continued: “From here comes the importance of real estate guarantees and the need not to dispense with them in the process of granting loans so that the experience of bad loans is not repeated.”
It is noteworthy that the financial liquidity of the Industrial Bank represented by “demand deposits, savings and time deposits, and current accounts of banks” amounts to more than 93 billion pounds, which qualifies the bank more than others to employ these funds in the development process by supporting small and medium enterprises in a thoughtful and systematic manner.
Waseem Al-Adawi