UAE Opens Applications for Dh1 Billion Interest-Free Industrial Resilience Fund

Emirates Development Bank (EDB) has opened an online application portal on its website, working with the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT), according to reports in Gulf News and Khaleej Times. The launch coincided with a meeting of the fund's Joint Governance Committee at MoIAT's Dubai office. MoIAT chairs the committee, and the Ministry of Finance and EDB are members. The committee discussed how financing will be granted and how the fund will operate.

The Cabinet announced the fund in April 2026, ahead of the fifth edition of Make it in the Emirates. Gulf News put its size at approximately $272.3 million.

The Terms

Eligible projects can borrow at 0 per cent interest until the programme ends, subject to an annual service fee of 0.75 per cent. Financing is capped at Dh100 million per group. For capital expenditure, the fund can cover up to 80 per cent of eligible project costs. New and existing factories can both apply, subject to the fund's terms and EDB's credit assessment.

The loans can pay for new factories, production lines, machinery, expansions and integrated storage infrastructure in the targeted sectors. Separate facilities cover strategic inventories, supplier payments and working capital to raise output.

Priority goes to projects that localise strategic and critical industries, replace imports and make national supply chains more resilient. The approved list of eligible products includes pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, and food and food processing, along with other strategic industries the governance committee approves. The fund also encourages applicants to adopt advanced manufacturing technologies, including industrial AI and automation.

What Officials Said

Hasan Jasem Al Nowais, Undersecretary of MoIAT, said the fund connects priority industrial opportunities with the financing needed to carry them out. He said it would also speed up the use of AI in production and operations. "This will strengthen the national industrial sector's capacity to produce critical and priority products and enhance the UAE's economic security," he said in comments carried by Gulf News. He invited investors, new factories and existing manufacturers planning expansions in critical sectors to apply.

Ahmed Mohamed Al Naqbi, Chief Executive Officer of EDB, said the bank would provide targeted financing to help eligible manufacturers set up new factories and raise local output in priority sectors. "By linking financing to confirmed market demand, we can support commercially viable projects that strengthen national supply chains and create new opportunities for UAE manufacturers," he said.

Why It Matters

The fund is a modest sum by the standards of Gulf industrial policy. Its terms, though, are generous: zero-interest debt covering most of a project's capital cost. By tying the loans to an approved list of critical products and to confirmed market demand, the government is steering capital toward goods the country wants to be able to make for itself, such as medicines, medical supplies and processed food.

The opening follows a year in which regional conflict and disrupted shipping lanes have tested Gulf supply chains. Officials framed the fund around import substitution and building strategic reserves of critical industrial products. Manufacturers and suppliers of automation and industrial AI may also find demand in the fund's push for advanced production technology, since that is one of its stated aims.

Eligibility criteria and application details are published on EDB's website.