VALUE ADDED TAX

VAT Rollout in Saudi Arabia ‘Raised More Revenue than Initially Expected’ – Latest PWC Middle East Economy Watch

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 emphasizes that Saudi Arabia will be a "tolerant country with Islam as its constitution and moderation as its method."
"With some caveats, the early data suggests that the inflationary impact of the tax has been contained, the impact on growth is limited and in Saudi Arabia it has raised more revenue than was initially expected."

Saudi Arabia

News, analysis, and more

Oil Markets

Saudi Arabia cuts oil output by about 400,000 bpd in Jan: sources

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, cut its crude output in January by about 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), two OPEC sources said, as...

 

VAT

Impact of VAT in Saudi Arabia, UAE, one year on

Early data suggests that the inflationary impact of the value-added tax (VAT) in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE has largely been contained, according to...

 

Internet Usage

23% of Internet users in Saudi Arabia are under 9

According to the Saudi General Authority for Statistics, a survey on the use of the Internet and telecommunications by families and individuals in 2018 92.51%...

 

U.S. Congress

Dem majority revives fight with Trump over Saudis

The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday advanced a resolution that would require Trump to withdraw all U.S. forces supporting the Saudi-led military campaign in...

 

GEA

Saudi Arabia inks UK deals to boost entertainment sector

Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, a government body set up to develop the country’s nascent entertainment industry, signed a variety of deals in the UK...

 

Jamal Khashoggi

Saudi-Commissioned Report Contests U.S. Finding About Khashoggi’s Killing

The Saudi government is contesting a prominent element of a CIA assessment that concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman likely ordered the killing of...

 

Vox Cinemas

Middle East Exhibitor Vox to Open 110 Screens in Saudi Arabia in 2019

Vox unveiled its second Saudi multiplex Jan. 28, a luxurious 12-screen facility in the city of Jeddah’s Red Sea Mall. The multiplex houses more than 1,450...

 

Economic Reform

Getting rid of red tape seen as key to Saudi reform push

Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries in the G20 that have an upgraded growth forecast for this year and next year (along with...

 

Commerce

Saudi Arabia to launch campaign against commercial cover-ups

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Commerce and Investment plans to launch a national programme to combat commercial cover-ups, Minister Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qassibi announced on...

 

MIT

MIT Offers Harsh Words for Saudi Arabia, but Stops Short of Cutting Financial Ties

After a monthslong review of its partnerships with Saudi Arabia, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday condemned the kingdom’s abuses but...

 

Eco Tourism

Saudi Arabia prepares to launch cave tourism, but locations are still secret

Adopting the ‘leave no trace; take nothing but pictures’ motto, SGS is remaining tight-lipped on the whereabouts of the subterranean sites. ‘People go inside and...

 

Digital Currency

Six Saudi, UAE banks to participate in digital currency project

Six Saudi and UAE commercial banks will participate in the digital currency project (Aber) for cross-border transactions between the two countries...

 

Saudi Satellite

Launch of Saudi satellite enables communications at ultra-fast speed, allows Saudi Arabia to provide high-specification services to MENA, Europe, Africa, Central Asia

The Saudi communications satellite (SGS-1), which is the first satellite of its kind to be owned by the Kingdom, will offer multiple applications that include...

 

Illegal Workers

Saudi warns of strict penalties for hiring illegal residents

The Saudi General Directorate of Passports has announced that anyone found to be employing, transporting, or sheltering people in breach of the Kingdom’s residence, labour...

 

Saudi +

Regional and related topics

Anti-ISIS Campaign

Trump: US Will Be Working with Mideast Partners ‘For Many Years to Come’

President Trump acknowledged that the Islamic State continues to pose a threat even though U.S.-led coalition forces have retaken 99 percent of the territory the...

 

Facebook

Over 164m active Facebook users in the Middle East, study shows

The highest growth rate of social media users – both in the Middle East and worldwide – was found to be Saudi Arabia, where users...

 

Taliban Talks

Afghan Taliban: no date yet for U.S. troops drawdown

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, among the Afghan opposition politicians attending the talks, said the principle issue under discussion was that Afghanistan should be free...

 

Afghanistan

The Hopes and Fears of Afghanistan’s Generation Z

For young people who were babies when the Taliban were driven from power by a U.S.-led campaign in 2001, the prospect of peace with the...

 

Iran

Iran Oil Industry Faces Bleak Outlook 40 Years After Revolution

As Iran’s Islamic Republic enters a fifth decade, its energy industry has little to celebrate. The country’s crude output has yet to recover to pre-revolution...

 

ME Property Investment

Middle East investors retreat from western property deals

Regional investment into the US and Europe fell 36 per cent to $5.8bn in 2018, compared with $9.1bn in 2017, according to data from JLL,...

 

West Asia?

Opinion: Why do we still use the term Middle East when West Asia is more relevant to Arab nations?

At its most obtuse, Middle East connotes everything from Morocco to Afghanistan, spanning a melange of sub-regions stretching from North Africa to Central Asia....

 

Syrian Refugees

Commentary: A refugee compact for Turkey?

The Syrian crisis is entering its eighth year and shows no sign of ending. More than 3.6 million Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey, which...

 

Egypt

Egypt receives 5th $2bn tranche of IMF loan

In November 2016, the IMF offered Egypt a three-year $12 billion loan programme aimed at reviving the country’s struggling economy, bringing down public debt and...

 

Climate Change

On Capitol Hill, experts and officials call for rapid action on climate change

The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee said that hearing is the first to focus on climate change in eight years. "Today, we turn the...

 

Softbank

SoftBank Group adds $14 billion to market value as shares soar on buyback, third-quarter profit

SoftBank Group Corp shares jumped 17 percent on Thursday, adding $14 billion (£10.8 billion) to the Japanese tech investment giant’s market value, after it unveiled...

 

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