The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced extending the deferred payment program to support the private sector until Q1 2021-end. The move comes as part of SAMA’s efforts to enable the financial sector to play its key role in supporting the private sector, particularly the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, the central bank said in a statement. The decision also enables SAMA to maintain financial sector’s stability and support economic growth, in line with the Kingdom’s efforts to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic fallout on various economic sectors. The number of beneficiaries from the program, since its launch on March 14, 2020, exceeded 87,000 with SAR 77.3 billion ($20.6 billion) deferred payments, the statement added. On Sept. 1, 2020, SAMA decided to extend the payment deferral program for 3 more months until December 14, Argaam earlier reported. Powered by Argaam