The Feasibility Study as a Financing Prerequisite in Saudi Arabia: A Comparative Review of Development-Fund Requirements and a Practical Framework for Investors

Saudi Arabia channels a large share of project finance for small, medium and industrial enterprises through state development funds and guarantee programmes. Applicants are routinely asked to demonstrate the viability of their project, yet the public documentation of what each financing body expects is fragmented across portals, brochures, press reports and partner-bank pages. This working paper reviews publicly available requirements of five financing channels (the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, the Agricultural Development Fund, the Social Development Bank, the Tourism Development Fund financing programme distributed through a fintech partner, and the national SME loan-guarantee programme) as accessible in November 2026. Using structured document review, it classifies each channel by whether a feasibility study or business case is explicitly required, by the analytical components mentioned, and by the financing parameters disclosed. The review finds that explicit feasibility-study requirements appear mainly in project-type and investment-type financing (industrial competitiveness and acquisition products, specialised agricultural projects), whereas short-term working-capital programmes rely on corporate documents and financial statements. Disclosed financing shares for industrial loans vary by city category (50%, 60% and 75%) with tenors of up to 15 or 20 years. The paper synthesises a nine-component framework for preparing lender-ready feasibility studies in the Saudi context and identifies gaps in public disclosure that applicants should verify directly with each fund. Author affiliation: Googan Business Services Company, Riyadh — https://googanconsult.com/