Industrial Competitiveness Program beneficiaries seen to increase: Minister

Bandar Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources

Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef said the number of companies benefiting from immediate financial solutions and soft loans provided by the Industrial Competitiveness Program reached 25.

He expects this number to reach 80 in the first phase, Asharq News reported, citing Alkhorayef on the sidelines of his meeting with the program beneficiaries.

The program helps mitigate the impact of energy sector restructuring on production costs for factories, explained Alkhorayef. He noted that as energy sector reforms continue, the number of benefiting companies will increase with the introduction of new alternatives.

The focus is on ensuring that the replacement of petroleum liquids used in industry with more efficient alternatives, such as gas, has minimal impact on factories, the minister said. He also emphasized that there will be new, more efficient, and sustainable alternatives in the long term.

Financing varies from one factory to another based on an evaluation of each factory’s requirements to adapt to the new energy sources. The cost is determined accordingly, and followed by providing the financing needed.

In January 2024, the Ministry of Industry launched the Industrial Competitiveness Program, which offers solutions aimed at encouraging sustainable transformation in the sector. The program also seeks to enhance the sustainability of industrial inputs, as well as enable the industrial sector to access the necessary enablers to improve production costs, according to data available on Argaam.