RIYADH: The Saudi Central Bank has announced the extension of the Deferred Payment Program for three additional months from Jan. 1, 2022 to March 31, 2022.

The initiative is one of the bank’s Private Sector Financing Support Programs, and the extension will benefit micro, small and medium enterprises, or MSMEs, that continue to be affected by the COVID-19 precautionary measures based on the assessment of the financing entities, the Central Bank said in a statement

Since its launch on March 14, 2020 to date, the Deferred Payment Program has benefited more than 107,000 contracts with a total value of SR181 billion ($48.2 billion) in deferred payments, the bank said.