Saudi Fund signs 13 loans worth 1.77 billion riyals across 11 countries

Summary

• The Saudi Fund for Development signed 13 loans worth 1.77 billion riyals in fiscal 2025.
• Suriname, Solomon Islands and Barbados entered the fund's portfolio for the first time.
• The lending spans four continents, extending Riyadh's reach in global development finance.

The latest

Thirteen development loans worth 1.77 billion Saudi riyals went to 11 developing countries during fiscal 2025, according to the Saudi Fund for Development's annual report. The financing stretched across Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Europe, and brought three new borrowers into the portfolio. Total project value reached 4.97 billion riyals, well above the fund's own share.

Details

• The Asia-Pacific share: Asia-Pacific drew the largest regional allocation, with 6 loans worth 855 million riyals, according to the annual report. That is nearly half the year's total lending by value and close to half the agreements signed, making the region the clear center of 2025 activity.
• The other regions: Latin America and the Caribbean received 3 loans worth 422.62 million riyals, Africa secured 2 loans worth 368.28 million riyals, and Europe took 2 loans worth 120 million riyals. No single region outside Asia-Pacific accounted for more than a quarter of the year's total.
• New borrowers: Suriname, the Solomon Islands and Barbados joined the fund's portfolio for the first time, the report said. All three are small developing states, two of them in Caribbean and Pacific island groupings that have historically drawn limited bilateral development lending from Gulf institutions.
• Where the money went: Social infrastructure took the dominant share with 7 loans worth 1.11 billion riyals, or 62.8% of the total. Energy followed with 3 loans worth 337.5 million riyals (19.1%), transport and communications with 2 loans worth 176.25 million riyals (10%), and agriculture with a single loan of 143.29 million riyals (8.1%).
• Co-financing: Nine of the 13 loans, covering 8 countries and totaling 1.32 billion riyals, were financed jointly with other institutions, the report said. Named partners include the Islamic Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development and the Asian Development Bank — roughly three quarters of the year's lending value.
• Leverage ratio: Total cost of the financed projects reached 4.97 billion riyals against the fund's 1.77 billion riyals in signed loans, per the report. That gap indicates the fund covered a minority of overall project costs, with host governments and partner lenders carrying the remainder.
• Five decades: Across its history, the fund has extended 808 development loans worth 83.26 billion riyals to 101 developing countries, the annual report said. Measured against that cumulative figure, the 2025 cohort represents a little over 2% of lifetime lending by value.
• Not specified: The report did not name individual recipient countries beyond the three first-time borrowers, nor set out a disbursement timetable for the 13 agreements signed during the fiscal year.

Background

The Saudi Fund for Development is Riyadh's bilateral development lender, operating since the mid-1970s. It finances infrastructure and social projects in developing countries, frequently alongside multilateral institutions rather than on its own balance sheet.

Between the lines

The portfolio's composition points to breadth over concentration. Two loans in Europe and three new entrants from the Caribbean and the Pacific place the fund in regions far from its traditional Arab and African base, while the share of co-financed lending — nine of 13 agreements — suggests the fund is increasingly operating as a partner inside multilateral packages rather than as a standalone bilateral creditor.

What's next

Watch for disbursement announcements and project launches in Suriname, the Solomon Islands and Barbados, and for the next annual report to show whether the four-continent spread holds or narrows back toward Asia-Pacific and Africa.

Source: Saudi Press Agency (SPA)