Ramallah – Al Wataniya Mobile Company, one of the companies of OOredoo International, signed an agreement for refinancing the restructured loan it had obtained in 2012 through several specialized international banking institutions. Bank of Palestine renewed the agreement in the amount of $70 million to match the natural development of the company. It is important to mention that the original fund was used to build the network in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Mr. Hashim Al Shawa, the Chairman of Bank of Palestine Group, stressed on the great trust that was promoted between Al Wataniya Mobile and Bank of Palestine during the last years, and which resulted in the development of continuous cooperation, relations and agreement on goals that aim to serve the various economic sectors. Al Shawa also praised the exceptional performance achieved by Al Wataniya Mobile, and its ability to ground its strength in the Palestinian market and overcome the many obstacles and difficult political and economic circumstances confronted by the Palestinian people, which allowed it to strongly earn the confidence of the bank and that of Palestinian institutions.
Mr. Mohammed Abu Ramadan, the Chairman of Al Wataniya Mobile, expressed his enthusiasm about the developing performance of Palestinian banking institutions, which matches that of their international counterparts, in terms of providing distinguished banking services to the Palestinian private sector efficiently and effectively. Abu Ramadan pointed out the qualitative development achieved by Bank of Palestinian in the last few years, which greatly contributed to developing the work and performance of private companies in Palestine.
The Chief Executive Officer of Al Wataniya Mobile, Dr. Durgham Mari'i, stated that "Al Wataniya Mobile takes straight and confident steps to achieve its desired goals that stem from its commercial performance, especially following the launch of our commercial services in the Gaza Strip, in addition to the launch of 3G services in the West Bank." He added that "the signing of the agreement to refinance the structured loan with a banking institution that has been accommodating the development of Al Wataniya Mobile from the day it launched its commercial services, and raising the confidence level between the bank and Al Wataniya is considered a great achievement for our company. Al Wataniya is proud of the bridges of confidence and the strong relations it managed to build with Bank of Palestine, the owner of the largest banking network in Palestine. The refinancing from Bank of Palestine allowed us to decrease the cost of overall financing and achieve additional flexibility at work."
Mr. Rushdi Ghalayini, the General Manager of Bank of Palestine, pointed out that Bank of Palestine is a national Palestinian institution that strives to support Palestinian organizations and finance large projects that promote the Palestinian economy, generate employment, alleviate unemployment, contribute to economic growth, encourage activities that aim to promote the national economy, and contribute to the building of an independent Palestinian state. Al Ghalayini praised the strong relationship between the bank and Al Wataniya Mobile, which forms a success story in terms of the cooperation of national organizations to achieve a bright future in spite of the difficult circumstances. "We are proud of our relationship and partnership with Al Wataniya Mobile, which proved to be a large business success," said Ghalayini. "Based on the positive outputs of the company, we are signing an agreement to refinance its structured loan," he added.