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  • Saudi Arabia Launches Office to Monitor State Spending, Corruption After Crackdown
     

    Saudi Arabia has launched a new office to monitor state spending, saying it would help keep up the fight against corruption after the closing of a 15-month crackdown that yielded over $100b of assets to the government, according to Reuters. A newly created financial reporting office would be part of the state’s General Auditing Bureau, which watches […]

     
  • Hilton to Open 35 Hotels, Add 10,000 Rooms in Saudi Arabia as Tourism Sector Soars
     

    Hilton Hotels & Resorts announced it is looking to build 35 new hotels in Saudi Arabia, adding as many as 10,000 rooms over the next 3-5 years, according to reports on comments made by a top executive for the company. The decision to invest in Saudi Arabia – the company’s largest pipeline in the Middle […]

     
  • Private-Sector Program ‘Direction’ in Saudi Arabia Boosts Cross-Cultural Understanding, Dialogue
     

    A private-sector program in Saudi Arabia is seeking to enhance relations between the Kingdom and nations around the world through delegations of Saudi youths in order to spread “a culture of moderation and respect for others” in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. The program, called “Direction,” designs, executes and manages supportive programs for Saudi and Arab […]

     
  • Kingdom Ends Corruption Crackdown with $106 Billion Recovered
     

    Saudi investigators have recovered assets worth more than $106 billion in an anti-corruption crackdown ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the royal court said on Wednesday. The crackdown began in November 2017 when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered suspects detained at the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh. The government summoned 381 people, although some appeared only […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia Sets Up New Company for NEOM Fully Owned by Kingdom’s PIF
     

    Saudi Arabia has established a new company to proceed with the development of NEOM, the planned $500 billion mega-city to be built in the northwest of the Kingdom, according to reports. The company will be owned by the government’s Public Investment Fund, according to a Reuters report, which cited the Saudi Press Agency. The new legal status of […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia Doubles Down on Industrial Development Program; Seeking over $400 Billion in Investment
     

    Saudi Arabia is seeking to attract 1.6 trillion riyals (nearly $429 billion) in private sector investment over the next 10 years for an infrastructure and industrial program, according to an announcement over the weekend and at an investment conference in Riyadh today. Investments will be made through the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP), […]

     
  • Saudi Media Powerhouse SRMG Launches Independent Arabia
     

    The Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG) and the UK online publisher The Independent have launched a new digital news site, IndependentArabia.com. SRMG announced the appointment of Saudi journalist and political analyst Adhwan al-Ahmary as editor-in-chief of the online platform, while the new service will be staffed by a team of experienced journalists from Saudi Arabia […]

     
  • 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 […]

     
  • Report: The Oil Market Roller Coaster
     

    It has been a tumultuous six months for oil prices on international indices. Prices have slightly rebounded early in 2019 after a precipitous fall from over $86 in September on the Brent Index to just over $50 on Christmas Day. In response, the Saudi-led OPEC+ group agreed in December to cut prices to erode a global […]

     
  • 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 […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Pricey homes and packed hotels: the year in GCC real estate

    Housing became a scarce commodity in Saudi Arabia in 2024. Expat workers flocked to Riyadh, attracted by the Vision 2030 push. Government policies boosted the home ownership rate for nationals. Rising land and construction costs also made housing and commercial units more expensive, says Imad Damrah, Colliers’ managing director for Saudi Arabia. “Freehold residential apartments in high-rise towers in Riyadh performed strongly, as did affordable National Housing Company residential communities,” Damrah tells AGBI. Residential sale numbers in the capital climbed 31 percent year on year in the third quarter, CBRE says. Average villa and apartment prices rose five and four percent respectively.

  • Gulf investors must look out for the American ‘bubble’

    The American economy constitutes about 25 percent of global GDP, but US stock markets account for a disproportionately large amount of global capitalisation – more than 60 percent by some reckonings. The rest of the world cannot get enough American assets, it seems. You can see why. Over the past two years the S&P 500 Index is almost 50 percent higher in one of the best-ever runs for US markets. Investors shrewd enough – like many Gulf financial players – to have bought into the Magnificent Seven technology stocks have enjoyed a significantly higher return. The re-election of Donald Trump as president has turbocharged US equities, and other assets like crypto and real estate thought to be beneficiaries of his tax and regulation-cutting style.

  • Saudi Arabia extends tax fine exemption for 6 months

    The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) has extended the Cancellation of Fines and Exemption of Penalties Initiative for taxpayers for six months, until June 30, 2025. To qualify, taxpayers must be registered in the tax system, submit all outstanding returns with accurate tax disclosure, and pay fully the principal tax owed on submitted or amended returns. Taxpayers may request instalment plans during the initiative period, provided that all instalments are paid on time, according to the approved plan.

  • As Gaza suffers, hunger watchdog refrains from using the F word: famine

    Many aid workers and doctors say famine has taken hold in Gaza. But amid Israel’s military assault and curbs on movement, the world’s hunger monitor has struggled to access key data to determine whether conditions constitute a famine. Some experts now wonder: Is it time to rethink how a famine is defined? Five times in the course of the past year, the world’s leading hunger monitor warned that Gaza could be teetering on the precipice of famine. Each time, the watchdog stopped short of concluding one was under way.

  • Hussain: FDI Watching Saudi’s New Business Rules – Video

    Saudi Arabia's FDI inflows slumped in Q3 - dropping 8% Q/Q to 18 billion riyals, a sign the kingdom continues to face challenges in drawing external cash to back its economic overhaul. Abdul Kadir Hussain, Arqaam Capital's Managing Director for Fixed Income Asset Management spoke to Bloomberg's Christine Burke on Horizons Middle East and Africa about the 3 factors that are driving down investments.

  • Window closing for Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal before Trump takes office

    Israeli and U.S. officials involved in the negotiations for a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal tell Axios they are concerned that the odds of an agreement before President Trump takes office are slim. Trump threatened that there would be "hell to pay in the Middle East" if Hamas did not release the hostages held in Gaza by Jan. 20. President Biden also made mediating a deal a top priority for his final months in office. It isn't clear what Trump meant by "hell to pay." A source close to the president-elect said there is no plan for what to do if Trump's deadline is crossed.

  • China’s Wemart opens first branch in Saudi Arabia

    Chinese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chang Hua announced the launch of the first branch of the Chinese hypermarket chain Wemart in Saudi Arabia. “I am delighted to launch the first Chinese Wemart hypermarket in Riyadh. There is a wide range of Asian goods and foods, and all vegetables are produced on its own farm. I would like to thank my fellow ambassadors for joining us today,” the Chinese Ambassador said on X.

  • Saudi Arabian non-oil exports increase by 13%

    Non-oil exports from Saudi Arabia increased by almost 13 percent to SAR25.38 billion ($6.76 billion) in October compared to the same month last year, according to the latest government trade report. Chemical products made up 26.8 percent of non-oil exports over the month, followed by plastics and rubber products at 23.7 percent, the General Authority for Statistics revealed. Although non-oil trade was up, including re-exports, total merchandise exports were down by almost 11 percent, largely as a result of a drop in the share of oil in overall exports to 72.6 percent from 78.3 percent in October 2023.

  • Eminem Provided ‘Epic’ Opening to Saudi Arabia’s Massive Mdlbeast Soundstorm Music Festival That is Creating Inroads For Saudi Artists, Says Event Chief

    This year’s Dec. 12-14 edition of Soundstorm – which started out in 2019 as an electronic dance music festival – featured over 200 international artists spanning rap, rock, pop, and house music. It marked Soundstorm’s strongest lineup thanks to chart-topping artists such as Eminem, Linkin Park, and rock bands including Thirty Seconds to Mars and U.K. trio Muse, as well as hip-hop stars like Russ, G-Eazy, J.I.D., and Busta Rhymes, to name a few. Along with a host of top Arabic acts such as Lebanese artist Elissa, Syrian singer Nassif Zeytoun, and Saudi DJ and producer Cosmicat. Variety spoke to Mdlbeast CEO Ramadan Alharatani about how he attracted bigger acts from the U.S. such as Eminem who, making his first appearance in Saudi Arabia, performed his hit “Love The Way You Lie” for a crowd of more than 100,000 fans.

  • Saudi non-profit sector revenue up at SAR 54.5B in 2023

    The non-profit sector organizations in Saudi Arabia reported a 33% year-on-year (YoY) in revenue to SAR 54.4 billion in 2023, according to the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT). The total sector expenditure also rose 33% YoY to SAR 47.02 billion, while employee compensation reached SAR 21.73 billion. The education and research sector came on top of peers in terms of revenue with about SAR 19.33 billion, a 35% leap YoY. Health took the second place with nearly SAR 14.13 billion in revenue.