Program Launch: The Cultural Development Fund (CDF) introduced Cultural Financing, a groundbreaking program to support and provide essential financing for projects across 16 cultural sub-sectors in Saudi Arabia, starting in early September 2024.
Flexible Financing: The program offers flexible and competitive financing packages for micro, small, and medium-sized cultural enterprises, designed to support both short-term and long-term needs while mitigating risks for both businesses and banking partners.
Banking Partnerships: CDF has partnered with five local banks—Al-Rajhi Bank, Alinma Bank, BSF, Arab National Bank (ANB), and Bank AlJazira—to enhance financing for cultural enterprises, aiming to boost economic growth, job creation, and the cultural sector’s impact on Saudi Arabia’s economy.
Cultural Development Fund Launches Groundbreaking Cultural Financing Program
Riyadh, August 23, 2024 – In a landmark initiative, the Cultural Development Fund (CDF) has announced the launch of Cultural Financing, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s first program dedicated to providing crucial financial support for projects and enterprises across 16 diverse cultural sub-sectors. This pioneering program is designed to foster sustainable growth within the cultural sector, amplify creative output, and enhance its contribution to the Kingdom’s gross domestic product (GDP), ultimately driving national economic development.
Cultural Financing offers a range of flexible, accessible, and competitive financing packages tailored to the needs of micro, small, and medium-sized cultural enterprises. These packages aim to maximize profitability while minimizing risks for both the enterprises and their local banking partners. The program supports various financing needs, from short-term to long-term, enabling cultural enterprises to launch, expand, and scale their operations effectively.
Majed bin Abdulmohsen Al-Hugail, Chief Executive of CDF, highlighted the significance of this new program: "Cultural Financing marks a new chapter in our mission to empower the cultural sector in collaboration with our local banking partners. This financing solution is crafted to address the diverse and evolving needs of cultural entrepreneurs and support their ambitions, reaffirming our commitment to forging strategic partnerships with the private sector."
The announcement also follows the CDF’s recent signing of partnership agreements with five prominent local banks – Al-Rajhi Bank, Alinma Bank, BSF, Arab National Bank (ANB), and Bank AlJazira. These partnerships are pivotal in delivering financing to cultural enterprises and underscore the essential role of the banking sector in the sustainable development of the cultural sector.
The CDF’s ongoing efforts aim to spur growth across various cultural domains in the Kingdom, reinforcing its commitment to supporting the cultural and creative sector. By offering attractive financing solutions, the CDF seeks to enhance economic development, job creation, and the overall impact of the cultural sector on Saudi Arabia’s economy.
Founded in 2021 and organizationally linked to the National Development Fund, the CDF’s mission is to promote the development of a self-reliant cultural sector. It actively supports a broad range of cultural activities and projects, facilitates investment, and strives to improve the profitability of the domestic cultural sector in alignment with the National Culture Strategy and Saudi Vision 2030.