Doha Bank plans to implement measures to help small and medium sized enterprises affected by the coronavirus epidemic in Qatar, media reports said. SMEs in the country are seeing their cash flows affected by the ongoing epidemica.
For that reason, Doha Bank has decided to support SMEs by initiating a deferment period upon request up to 90 days for loans and payments under LTR/ STPF facilities that are due till June 30.
Doha Bank considers SMEs to be significant to economic growth and development. The bank said in a statement, “SMEs not only contribute to output, fulfil social objectives, attract considerable foreign reserves into a country but also have a clear importance in providing employment, they are the backbone of the private sector all over the world which drives the impact to a sustainable economy. So, it is very important to support SMEs time to time depending upon the market situation.”
Previously, the bank has introduced various initiatives to promote SME growth and expansion in the country. In fact, it was the first to launch Tatweer, a dedicated SME unit in 2019. The unit has a well-equipped team with expertise in relationship management to accelerate delivery of SME services.
To date, the bank has supported more than ,000 SME customers with credit lines in excess of QAR 1.5 billion, according to the website.