UAE - Mubasher: Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI) has provided more than AED 420 million trade credit support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the first eleven months of 2020.
This support has translated to AED 1 billion non-oil trade insured turnover, according to a press release on Sunday.
Through the guarantees provided to SMEs, ECI aims to protect their liquidity, help businesses to cut their cost of bank funding, and enable them to request their preferred bank to discount invoices at a preferential rate
The ECI has also facilitated the exports of SMEs and their operations in the domestic market, enabling them to stay competitive in the trade industry, namely during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
ECI seeks to support SMEs for significantly contributing to the UAE economy, as the sector accounts for 53% of the UAE's GDP in 2019, compared to 49% in 2018.
The CEO of ECI, Massimo Falcioni, said: "ECI understands the vital role SMEs play in building the nation’s economy that is why we have developed an online user friendly solution in 2019, named 'SME Protect' to allow SMEs in the UAE to trade safely and confidently and gain access to international markets, thereby positioning the UAE as the global hub of trade and export."
