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QUOTED
There’s a “wall of cash that investors need to put to work” and Saudi Arabia “ticks all the boxes.”
–Chavan Bhogaita, head of strategy at First Abu Dhabi Bank, comments on Saudi Arabia’s just completed $5 billion Eurobond that is part of the $32 billion of local currency and international debt the kingdom is expected to issue in 2020. This bond issue had more than $23 billion in orders. [bloomberg.com]
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TOP STORY
Saudi Arabia and Korea Republic have become one of the first three Asian teams to secure a trip to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Fifa reports. [more]
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TOP STORY
Oil demand growth is set to trend higher this year compared with 2019, a recent report from Jadwa Investment finds, citing OPEC forecasts and other global economic factors. [more]
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TOP STORY
The Saudi Heritage Preservation Society has called on UNESCO to protect traditional Khawlani coffee cultivation techniques in Saudi Arabia in a press release, noting that the Arabian tradition “has been passed down for generations by the ancient tribes of Khawlan who have grown and processed Khawlani coffee beans in the verdant valleys of Jazan, a region in the southern-most tip of Arabia, for over 300 years.” [more]
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MORE TOP STORYLINES
Via Dmitry Zhdannikov in reuters.com : With nearly $30 billion coming into PIF coffers from Aramco’s local share offering last month, new and existing local industries, including defense and technology, will get a boost in capital, Jadaan said.
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Via Abigail Ng in cnbc.com : Under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan, the country wants tourism to make up 10% of GDP, up from around 3%. It also has a target of 100 million international and domestic annual visits by 2030.
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Via Yousef Saba and Nafisa Eltahir in reuters.com : Economic growth in the Gulf will pick up this year and next, helped by Saudi Arabia’s investment program and Expo 2020 in Dubai, although the region will continue to feel the impact of oil output cuts, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.
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MORE ON THE KINGDOM AND BEYOND
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Saudi Arabia and Lebanon's installations at the Venice Biennale seek to redress the balance by questioning masculine views and Western myths surrounding the portrayal...[By Rebecca Ann Hughes via euronews.com]
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Middle East countries spent 4.2 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence in 2023, the highest rate globally, as ...[By Deena Kamel via thenationalnews.com]
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Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund agreed to buy a majority stake in Saudi Telecom Co.’s tower unit for 8.7 billion riyals ($2.3 billion)...[By Dana Khraiche via ]
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The Schengen Area, which includes 29 European countries, was expanded last February to include Bulgaria and Romania, eliminating all air and maritime...[By Mona Farag via thenationalnews.com]
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Saudi Arabia is pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza and the entry of more aid into the territory amid Israel’s war...[via alarabiya.net]
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The institute noted that three largest spenders in the region — Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey — all increased military spending last year. Saudi Arabia...[By Adam Lucente via al-monitor.com]
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The head of Saudi Arabia’s state oil company praised China’s exports of green technology, echoing Beijing’s talking points in what appeared to be a deliberate...[via semafor.com]
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Startups are a critical component of the 21st-century economy, driving innovation, creating jobs, and fostering national economic growth. In Saudi Arabia, venture...[By Sharif Almadani via linkedin.com]
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Saudi oil giant Aramco said on Monday it is in talks to acquire a 10% stake in...[By Yousef Saba via reuters.com]
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The Ministry of Tourism has shut down as many as 67 tourism hospitality facilities, including hotels and residential apartments, across the Kingdom during the first...[via zawya.com]
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Saudi Arabia’s cinema industry has generated revenue of SAR3.7 billion ($986.42 million) just six years after the opening of its first cinemas.
According to government data...[By Elias Al Helou via economymiddleeast.com]
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Blinken is expected to participate at a special...[By Barak Ravid via axios.com]
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Saudi Arabia is set to receive more rainfall toward the weekend, with Riyadh and its outskirts likely to witness heavy rains from Friday to next...[By Rashid Hassan via arabnews.com]
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Iraqi President Barham Salih met with his US counterpart Donald Trump at Davos on Wednesday, despite warnings from militia groups that he would be "not welcome...[By Alex Macdonald via middleeasteye.net]
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Diab described his government as a technocratic “rescue team” that would work to achieve protesters’ goals. His first trip abroad would be to the Arab...[By Ellen Francis and Laila Bassam via reuters.com]
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The slain commander, Abdolhossein Mojaddami, headed the Basij forces, a paramilitary wing of the Revolutionary Guard used for internal security and other tasks, in the...[via yahoo.com via AP]
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The ISIS official known by the pseudonym Abu al-Ward al-Iraqi was killed along with another militant who officials have not yet identified during the raid...[By Chad Garland via stripes.com]
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A U.S. drone strike earlier this month in the western Afghan province of Herat that apparently targeted a militant group also killed at least 10...[By RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan via rferl.org]
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In 2017, 17 out of 22 Arab League countries had more than half their populations living in urban areas. With further population increases predicted in MENA...[By Caline Malek via arabnews.com]
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According to the U.S. secretary of defense, this reprisal was composed of 16 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) fired from three locations in Iran at two...[By Behnam Ben Taleblu via thehill.com]
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The Syrian government has been carrying out an offensive on the northwestern province of Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in the country, and the rebel-held...[via yahoo.com via AP]
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The US military has a history of trying to impose its power on cities—in Saigon, Panama City, Mogadishu, Kabul, and Baghdad, for instance—typically with mediocre...[By John Spencer via usma.edu]
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The Trump administration is eyeing seven countries for new immigration restrictions three years after its original order, which created an uproar for targeting Muslim-majority nations....[By Nahal Toosi and Anita Kumar via politico.com]
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, which lost 57 of the 176 people killed in the crash, said Iran did not have the ability to...[By Alexander Cornwell and Babak Dehghanpisheh via reuters.com]
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As world leaders — including U.S. Vice President Pence — prepared to gather in Jerusalem this week to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation...[By Steve Hendrix and Ruth Eglash via washingtonpost.com]
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