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  • General Abizaid Faces Tough Questions from U.S. Senators in Confirmation Hearing
     

    President Trump’s choice for the next U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia faced tough questions from U.S. senators but defended the U.S.-Saudi relationship on Wednesday and said the United States needed “a strong and mature partnership with Saudi Arabia.” Retired General John Abizaid’s confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was the first of this session […]

     
  • Positives Seen in Latest Saudi Government Labor Market Data as Vision 2030 Reforms Take Hold
     

    Saudi Arabia’s workforce saw an increase in female participation and a slight decline in unemployment, according latest data on the Saudi labor revealed in a Jadwa Investment report. The General Authority for Statistics (GaStat) labor market release for Q3 2018 shows that unemployment declined slightly to 12.8 percent, from 12.9 percent in the previous two […]

     
  • Analysis: Vision 2030 is Well Underway. Here’s What’s Needed to Make it a Success.
     

    In 2016, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced his “Vision 2030″—the most comprehensive transformation plan in the history of the country, which includes wide-ranging social and economic reforms. Vision 2030 was designed as a 14-year project; however, in its first three years, we have already seen tangible advances, such as fiscal consolidation efforts, […]

     
  • Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Arrives in India for Next Stop of Asia Tour
     

    Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in India for the second stop on a three-country tour of Asian nations as the Kingdom looks to boost relationships and trade opportunities in the East. India “rolled out the red carpet for the crown prince,” Reuters reports, amid simmering tensions with neighboring Pakistan following a militant attack in […]

     
  • Al-Falih: ‘Going forward the world is going to be Saudi Aramco’s playground’
     

    In a new interview with the Financial Times, Saudi Arabia’s powerful minister of energy, industry, and mineral resources Khalid Al-Falih indicated that Saudi Aramco would take on an active position as investor in resource opportunities outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s state-owned energy company, Saudi Aramco, will seek to develop an international energy […]

     
  • Ambitious Saudi Entertainment Push Announced by GEA’s Turki al-Sheikh
     

    Saudi Arabia is looking to maintain heavy investment in the entertainment sector in 2019, according to comments made by a top Saudi official, as it looks to make good on key Vision 2030 economic reforms. Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia’s recently named chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, Turki al-Sheikh, said the Kingdom would put on […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia, Other Gulf Nations to Join JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Emerging-Market Bond Indexes
     

    Saudi Arabia and four other Gulf nations will join JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s emerging-market bond indexes this month, Bloomberg reports, “potentially paving the way for billions of dollars in inflows into the securities.” The debt offerings from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait will represent about 11.8 percent of the EMBI Global […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia Eyes Major Domestic Energy Conservation by 2030, Al Falih Says
     

    Saudi Arabia expects to throttle back domestic energy consumption by 2030 by up to the equivalent of 2m barrels of oil per day, in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic and social reform initiative, according to comments made by Khalid Al-Falih published by Reuters. Saudi Arabia has long used easily extracted oil reserves for […]

     
  • A Gradual Pickup in Private Sector Lending in Saudi Arabia Seen in Monetary Update
     

    A recently-released report by Jadwa Investment finds a gradual pickup in private sector lending since April 2018 after showing a slowdown in 2017 and Q1 2018. The Monetary and Financial Update report from the Riyadh-based Jadwa looks at the Kingdom’s monetary policy and other key economic data. Jadwa Investment sees “a rising level of uncertainty” in the […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia Seeks Balanced Budget by 2023 – Al Jadaan
     

    Saudi Arabia’s finance minister told Reuters on Wednesday he was “unconcerned with current oil prices impacting spending plans in 2019″ and the government still aims to close its budget deficit by 2023 – though the target is not set in stone. The government unveiled a $295 billion budget on Tuesday, the kingdom’s largest, with a […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Saudi Arabia targets $1.7 trillion in tourism infrastructure by 2030

    Official data indicates that as of June 2024, the kingdom has 255 tourism infrastructure projects valued at $1.7 trillion, aligning with its Vision 2030 goal to attract 150 million visitors annually.

  • Unemployment among Saudi citizens falls to 7.1% in Q2

    Unemployment among Saudi citizens continued to decrease in the second quarter, falling to 7.1%, according to government data released on Monday, down from 7.6% in the previous quarter, and from 8.5% in the same period a year earlier. The overall rate of unemployment, which includes expatriate workers, fell to 3.3% in Q2, down from 4.1% in the prior year period, the General Authority for Statistics said.

  • Saudi Arabia stresses need to ‘preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity’

    Saudi Arabia has stressed “the need to preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” amid ongoing Israeli strikes on the country, the Kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement issued on Monday. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is following with great concern the developments taking place in the Republic of Lebanon,” the statement continued, adding that it “affirms its solidarity with the Lebanese people against the repercussions of these events and the need to limit their humanitarian consequences.”

  • Saudi Arabia announces monthly financial support to address humanitarian situation in Gaza

    Saudi Arabia on Sunday announced the provision of monthly financial support to Palestinians to help address the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings. The support comes as a continuation of the humanitarian and development aid provided by the Kingdom to the Palestinian people in the past, which amounts to more than $5.3 billion.

  • Saudi FDI dips ahead of looser laws in 2025

    Saudi Arabia received $9.7b of FDI inflows in the first half of 2024, according to data from the Saudi General Authority for Statistics. The kingdom was targeting $29b of FDI inflows by the end of the year, a goal which would require a significant turnaround in the coming months. The data comes ahead of the implementation of updated FDI laws meant to entice foreign investment.

  • Aside from Israel, Lebanon needs to be protected from another enemy: itself

    If Iran, and its militias, fail to respond, it means Israel also wins psychologically yet again. If Hezbollah retaliates as a group, or if any of its followers worldwide acts individually, this would distract global public opinion from the mounting accusations of war crimes committed in Gaza and Lebanon, and allow the Israeli government to repeat, yet again, that it is only defending itself.

  • Is a regional war between Israel and Iran inevitable?

    In terms of its impact on the Arab world, some have compared Nasrallah’s killing to the defeat of Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1967. Nonetheless, since Israel assassinated Nasrallah, the Lebanese organisation has attempted to project continuity, in terms of both its leadership and decades-long armed struggle against Israel. There has also been celebration in north-western Syria’s rebel-controlled Idlib governorate, where much hatred for Hezbollah still exists due to the group’s intense intervention in the Syrian crisis, beginning with the 2013 battle for Qusayr.

  • Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’ Outmatched By Israeli Intelligence And Weapons

    Past experiences suggest that Iran’s response will be cautious unless it has confidence that it can catch Israel off guard. That certainly occurred last Oct. 7, when Hamas stormed out of Gaza into southern Israel, killed 1200 Israelis, and took several hundred as hostages. But more recently, the intelligence advantage has been on Israel’s side, as evidenced by the methodical takedown of Hezbollah communications and personnel.

  • Commentary: Hezbollah is not finished yet

    The assassination of Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut will not diminish the group he once led. The killing demonstrates the counterintuitive notion that eliminating the head of an organisation does not always destroy it. Hezbollah has a bureaucratic set-up, with a robust ideology and communal support. Any armed organisation that benefits from all three tends to survive the death of its leader.

  • Federation of Saudi Chambers to Launch Platform for Entertainment Sector

    The Federation of Saudi Chambers, represented by the National Entertainment Committee, announced plans to launch a unique digital platform for the entertainment sector. The platform will connect private companies with each other to facilitate the provision of their services for entertainment events under one roof so as to enable them to access investment opportunities and link them together to create a connected and vibrant community.