muhammad al - jasser : “ assessment ” project of small and medium size enterprises opening speech by his excellency dr muhammad al - jasser, governor of the saudi arabian monetary agency ( sama ), at the inauguration ceremony of the “ assessment ” project of small and medium size enterprises, saudi company for credit information ( simah ), riyadh, 8 october 2011. * * * your excellencies and dear audience, i am pleased to participate with you in celebrating the launching of the “ assessment ” project of small and medium enterprises. first, i would like to express my thanks and appreciation to the colleagues at the saudi company for credit information ( simah ) for the development of this important project, which i hope will be provided with all necessary means of support by all entities concerned for its success. dear brothers and sisters, the national economy consists of a large and integral variety of public and private institutions that use available human and material resources to produce continuous flows of goods and services to meet the domestic community ’ s needs and a part of the external demand. of course, domestic enterprises differ in size based on various criteria, the most important of which are : the number of workers, the amount of capital, sales and others. one of the misconceptions is that large enterprises are the main impetus of economic activity. this belief has arisen from the good news repeatedly published about those institutions in various mass media. however, the actual reality emphasizes that small and medium size enterprises play an important role in the economic activity in both the developed and developing countries, through their absorptive capacity in employing the workforce of the different levels of training and education. a study by the riyadh economic forum on “ the saudi business sector and meeting the economic challenges ” showed that the average number of workers in the saudi private sector stood at 8. 4 workers per one single institution, and, consequently, 90 percent of the institutions in the kingdom is considered within the scope of small and medium size enterprises. small and medium size enterprises are considered the best efficient and effective tool for accelerating economic and social development, especially in remote areas with the least opportunities for development. they also provide a fertile field for training workers and developing their skills. to this end, governments have paid great attention to such enterprises and established the basic regulatory framework needed for their growth and development, particularly after having proved their ability to reduce pressure on the government sector in providing job opportunities and training. governments also helped big enterprises in the marketing

exports showed a significant rise. real exports rose again in october. real imports, on the other hand, have remained virtually unchanged on average. as a result, the real trade surplus has been increasing with some fluctuations. reflecting these developments in exports and imports, the nominal current - account surplus has also been expanding significantly since april 1997. industrial production has recently been somewhat weak. production in the third quarter 1997 remained virtually unchanged on the whole. this is because production has been cut back mainly in the industries with excessive inventories, such as consumer durables and construction - related goods, although production of electrical machinery continued to increase, reflecting steady exports. production in october and november is expected to decrease as a result of inventory adjustment pressures. with respect to labor market conditions, the unemployment rate has remained at a high level, and the ratio of job offers to job applications has recently eased somewhat. growth in overtime working hours and nominal wages has slowed slightly reflecting weak production. however, year - to - year employment growth has been moderate but steady. thus, employment and income conditions continue to improve moderately on the whole, but the pace of recovery has slowed somewhat. prices remained stable on the whole, excluding the effect of the consumption tax hike. domestic wholesale prices ( adjusted for seasonal electricity rates ) have declined to some extent as domestic demand and supply conditions started to ease, particularly in construction - related goods. the year - to - year declines in corporate service prices on the whole have been narrowing further owing to the improvement in supply and demand conditions, particularly for real estate rents and information services, although leasing charges continue declining. consumer prices ( nationwide, excluding perishables ) rose year to year in september, reflecting the temporary factor ; i. e., a rise in medical charges which resulted from medical insurance reform. excluding this, however, consumer prices have remained stable at a level slightly above that of the previous year. monetary aggregates, measured in terms of year - to - year growth of m2 + cds average outstanding, declined somewhat in october to 2. 7 per cent. regarding money market rates, the overnight call rate ( uncollateralized ) has moved at a level slightly below the official discount rate. the 3 - month cd rate has stayed at around 0. 50 - 0. 55 per cent. against the background of uncertainties about future economic growth, the long - term government bond yield had been declining since the end of may and reached the record low of 1. 5 - 1. 6 per