MUST-READS

• Retail sector aiming for $122bn contribution to Saudi GDP by the end of 2024: minister 

  Saudi Arabia’s retail sector contributes 23 percent to the non-oil economy, and is aiming to exceed SR460 billion ($122.6 billion) by the end of 2024, according to a top official.  Majed Al-Hogail, the minister of municipal and rural affairs and housing, highlighted the pivotal role of the industry in the Kingdom’s economic landscape at the 10th Retail Leaders Circle MENA Summit in Riyadh.  He said that this area holds utmost importance as it serves as a key driver in the economy and local gross domestic product, according to a post by the ministry on X. 

• Saudi index at 18-month high leads Gulf market gains

  Most stock markets in the Gulf rose on Monday, led by the Saudi index closing at its highest since August 2022, despite fading chances of early rate cuts globally. U.S. producer prices increased more than expected in January after strong gains in the cost of services that could stoke inflation. Most Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar and follow the Fed's policy moves closely.

• Patty Tavatanakit Wins 2024 Aramco Saudi Ladies International

  Patty Tavatanakit fired an exceptional final round of 65 (-7) to win the 2024 Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented by PIF by seven shots. The major champion produced a wire-to-wire victory with rounds of 66-70-69-65 at Riyadh Golf Club to win with a score of 18-under-par. It is a fifth professional victory for the 24-year-old, her first on the Ladies European Tour (LET) and her first since winning the 2021 ANA Inspiration.  “It’s been a long time since I’ve played this good,” she said. “It’s very emotional, I’m very emotional right now with how I have overcome that and looking back it was just one day at a time, keep working hard.

• CarbonMeta Technologies Wins Sole Source Contract with Saudi Investment Recycling Company (SIRC)

  CarbonMeta and SIRC to launch cement-less concrete pilot project in March 2024

• Oliver Wyman helping Saudi Aramco with Big Data and AI unit

  Oliver Wyman notes that creating more sophisticated business models with the help of units like Global Optimizer can translate to up to $2 more of value per barrel of oil before interest and taxes. As Nadim Haddad, partner and head of oil and gas for India, the Middle East, and Africa at Oliver Wyman says in the report: “Aramco’s growing Downstream global footprint and value-chain integration present many opportunities, and the building and enhancement of a digitally-focused and commercially savvy model such as Global Optimization will allow for these to be fully assessed and captured.”

• ‘Strings attached’: Saudi Arabia steps up demands in tech deals with China

  Saudi Arabia is mandating that leading Chinese technology companies invest in the Gulf kingdom in return for huge deals, as it leverages its petrodollar wealth to boost its domestic tech industry. Alibaba and SenseTime are among the top Chinese groups to have secured deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars with Saudi Arabia over the past three years, in exchange for setting up joint ventures in the country. According to five industry insiders, including fund managers, tech entrepreneurs and consultants working on the agreements, Saudi investors are applying increasingly stringent requirements to fund deals.

• Cristiano Ronaldo slammed by Eden Hazard on his Saudi Pro League stance

  Eden Hazard has weighed in on Cristiano Ronaldo's recent assertion that the Saudi Pro League surpasses Ligue 1 in competitiveness, expressing his disagreement and asserting the strength of French football. Despite Ronaldo's praise for the Saudi league's competitiveness, Hazard maintains that a Ligue 1 team would emerge victorious against a Saudi Arabian counterpart, highlighting the depth and quality of French football.

• Saudi Arabia sees medium-term non-oil growth at over 5%, below previous estimate

  Saudi Arabia's non-oil growth is expected to come in above 5% in the medium term, Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan said on Monday, slightly lower than the 6% figure previously projected, but likely to outperform the wider region this year. "If you look at the non-oil GDP, it is growing at very healthy numbers: 4% and north of 4%. We are expecting 5%-plus in the medium term," Jadaan told delegates at the Saudi Capital Markets Forum in Riyadh. "That is very strong growth."

• Saudi Arabian racer Reema Juffali announced as F1 ACADEMY Wild Card entry for Round 1 in Jeddah

  Reema Juffali, Saudi Arabia’s first-ever female racing driver, has been confirmed as the Wild Card entry for the first round of the 2024 F1 ACADEMY in Jeddah. Making history in 2018 with her racing debuts in the TRD 86 Cup and MRF Challenge, Juffali went on to secure frequent points-scoring finishes in the F4 British Championship the next year. In addition, she became the first Saudi Arabian woman to compete in an international race in her home country, driving in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY.

• International women jockeys to compete in world’s richest race meet in Saudi Arabia

  A raft of the world’s elite jockeys and horses will descend on King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh this weekend for the 2024 Saudi Cup. The fifth edition of the event begins on Friday with the International Jockeys’ Challenge and concludes on Saturday with the highly anticipated Saudi Cup race itself. The international challenge (IJC) is a four-race competition featuring 14 high-calibre jockeys – seven men and seven women – from all around the world. Among them are three-time Melbourne Cup champion Damien Oliver, America’s Katie Davies and reigning IJC champion Luis Saez, and New Zealand’s Lisa Allpress, the first woman to win a flat race in Saudi Arabia when she competed in 2020.

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