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  • Sources of Saudi Tourism: Who’s Traveling, Who’s Spending?

    Saudis are exploring their own country in bigger numbers and foreigners are bringing the cash. That’s the takeaway from a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the state of the Saudi economy. “The surge of visitors has been mostly domestic-driven while the surge in visitors’ spending was mostly inbound-driven (i.e., international arrivals),” said the IMF report. Saudi reported 109 million visitors in 2023, beating its initial target of 100 million visitors by 2030 – a goal it has since lifted to 150 million.

  • Will a Turkey-Iraq Security Agreement Diminish Iran’s Hold Over Iraq?

    The MoU, which followed a historic visit to Iraq in April by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is a significant maneuver intended to solidify Turkey’s influence in Iraq. By labeling the Kurdish Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK a “banned organization,” Turkey seeks to legitimize its cross-border operations and strengthen its foothold in Iraqi politics and security.

  • Gaza Impact Creep: Is the Fight Against ISIL a Casualty?

    Without such kinetic pressure, he is convinced ISIL would succeed in reconstituting itself in northeastern Syria from its safe haven in the Badiya desert, nominally under Syrian regime control – but largely ungoverned space below the large northern quarter of Syrian territory that Abdi’s forces control. ISIL continues to have funding streams in the northeast, including kidnapping for ransom and extortion, as well as regional inflows, and to find localized safe haven in communities with residual sympathy for the group.

  • Will Jordan’s new electoral law bring real change?

    But this time around, to strengthen the country’s political parties and engage voters more effectively, the government has reserved forty-one out of the 138 seats for candidates running on party lists. Yet, the resulting changes are likely only cosmetic since Jordanian parties are not winning voters’ confidence for various reasons, including on the pivotal issue of unemployment.

  • Time to retire ‘Arab-Israeli conflict’?

    The experience of the past 11 months has led many experts on the region like myself to reassess that term. Is “Arab-Israeli conflict” an accurate reflection, given that the active participants are no longer just Arabs and Israelis? Should we retire that term for good now that the conflict has widened, drawing in the United States and Iran–and potentially Turkey and others in the coming years?

  • Perspective: Will Saudi Arabia’s big bet on the Qiddiya gaming and esports city pay off?

    Milanov is now head of gaming at Qiddiya, a dreamy “Giga Project” under way near Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis want 17 million visitors a year to go to Qiddiya by 2030, making it the “largest tourism destination worldwide.” Not so different from Team Liquid’s heaquarters, the aim of Qiddiya is to build a whole city where gamers, esports athletes and their fans can feel at home, and Milanov is moving into high gear soon to sell people on the idea of Qiddiya. Will giant sandworms get him, or will it all pay off?

  • Can Saudi Arabia Actually Afford Vision 2030?

    In other words, the suggestion that Saudi Arabia is in trouble because it cannot make the ends of its planned budget meet is accurate—up to a point. The megaprojects can be delayed, as they have been before when the price environment was sub-optimal. Money can also be drawn from international debt markets where Saudi bonds appear to enjoy substantial popularity, not unlike Aramco shares. Oil-dependent economies, it seems, still draw investors in, transition and non-OPEC output growth notwithstanding.

  • What went down in August?

    The month began recording the lowest venture funding across all emerging markets in 2024, with no mega deals in sight. August also revealed an in-depth analysis of Africa’s H1 funding figures, highlighting a steep 57% drop compared to last year, marking the region’s most significant decline since 2019. Meanwhile, MENA defied global trends with a notable increase in investor activity, particularly from international backers. The month concluded with insights into investor behavior, spotlighting key players reshaping the venture landscape in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

  • Saudi Arabia’s fiscal breakeven oil price is rising fast. What will the kingdom do about it?

    In May of 2023 the International Monetary Fund forecast the kingdom’s breakeven oil price at $80.90 per barrel, which moved it back into a fiscal deficit following its first surplus in nearly a decade. The Fund’s latest forecast, in April, put that figure at $96.20 for 2024; a roughly 19% increase on the year before, and about 32% higher than the current price of a barrel of Brent crude, which is trading at around $73 as of Wednesday afternoon.

  • When does the Saudi Pro League transfer window end and can Premier League clubs still sell to the Middle East?

    The window is set to slam shut on Monday, September 2, which is five days fewer than the 2023 summer window, which closed on September 7. Couple this with the fact the Premier League transfer window closed earlier on Friday, August 30, and you have an interesting situation.