MUST-READS

• Saudi university signs 15 new agreements to research defense, AI, and nuclear technologies

  One of the Kingdom’s leading universities has signed 15 new agreements with government entities and major corporations to advance research in areas including defense, artificial intelligence, and nuclear energy. The King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals signed the agreements at a recent ceremony in Dhahran attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, minister of energy and chairman of KFUPM’s Board of Trustees. Among the highlights is a memorandum of understanding with the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy to advance technology in nuclear and renewable energy, hydrogen, and AI.

• Saudi Arabia plans to enrich and sell uranium: Energy minister

  “We will enrich it and we will sell it and we will do a ‘yellowcake,’” Prince Abdulaziz told a conference in Dhahran, referring to a powdered concentrate of the mineral used to prepare uranium fuel for nuclear reactors. It requires safe handling although it poses few radiation risks. Saudi Arabia has a nascent nuclear program that it wants to expand to eventually include uranium enrichment, a sensitive area given its role in nuclear weapons. Riyadh has said it wants to use nuclear power to diversify its energy mix. The Kingdom said last year it planned to scrap light-touch oversight of its nuclear facilities by the UN atomic watchdog and switch to regular safeguards by the end of 2024.

• Saudi Arabia Real Estate Boom to Extend Into 2025: CBRE (Video)

  Population growth and influx of foreigners have underpinned a surge in Saudi Arabia’s property market. CBRE expects price growth and rents to increase in 2025, Elias Bou Habib, the firm’s head of consulting for Saudi, told Joumanna Bercetche on Bloomberg TV’s Horizons Middle East & Africa.

• Middle East investors turn to airports for safe returns

  “Airports are gateways to regions,” Linus Bauer, managing director of Singapore-based aviation consultancy BAA & Partners says. “By investing in them, Gulf investors secure influence over critical infrastructure in regions they seek to strengthen economic ties with, such as Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia.” Estimates suggest the global airport industry will be worth $194 billion in 2024. The Airports Council International projects that airport investment worldwide is likely to reach $2.4 billion by 2040. “The increasing interest from the Middle East is partly sparked by a desire to show their global credibility as much as the pure investment side,” says John Grant, a partner at the UK consultancy Midas Aviation and an AGBI columnist.

• Saudi Arabia exceeds 2030 target for regional HQs

  The number of companies setting up their main regional base in the kingdom has reached 571, primarily in the industrial sector, Khalid Al Falih told Asharq Business, an Arabic-language financial portal. The Gulf state, he said, has moved beyond the HQ goals and is working to get global companies to contribute to Saudi Arabia’s economic development. The regional HQ programme is part of plans to make Riyadh one of the world’s 10 largest city economies by 2030 and increase its population to as many as 20 million. These companies will be exempt from corporate tax for 30 years, in addition to relaxed requirements for Saudisation – the programme to increase employment of Saudi nationals – and offering work permits for the spouses of company executives.

• Expectations for a Second Trump Administration’s Impacts on Business in the Middle East

  Much has been written about how Donald Trump’s election will affect the political and security outlook for the Middle East, including with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Iranian nuclear program, and U.S. ties with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey. But how will a second Trump term affect the economic and business outlook for the region? While President-elect Trump is defined most by his unpredictability, we believe a few themes are likely to play out over the next four years partly as a result of the U.S. presidential election: 1) Continued downward pressure on oil prices, and therefore on Gulf budgets and government spending; 2) Greater openness to and appeals for foreign direct investment in the U.S. from Middle Eastern sovereigns and others from the region; and 3) A more complicated landscape of controls on exports to the region of sensitive U.S. technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors, weapons and advanced fighter jets, and civilian nuclear energy.

  • DGA Group - Expectations for a Second Trump Administration's Impacts on Business in the Middle East
• Stable, if lacking excitement: the outlook for Gulf banks

  Gulf banks have not suffered as a result of the regionalisation of the Gaza war and their financial efficiency has enabled them to maintain earnings in the face of falling international interest rates.  Overseas operations have caused losses for some institutions in recent years: currency devaluation in Egypt, financial crisis and hyperinflation in Lebanon and economic difficulties and high levels of inflation in Turkey all had to be reflected in the profit and loss statements of banks that are active in those countries. However among the larger banks the financial write-downs were easily digested within full earnings statements. More importantly, as we look ahead, the economies of Egypt and Turkey appear to have stabilised and after more than five years of economic depression in Lebanon, the scope for further losses is small.

• Airbus keeps top spot with 766 jet deliveries in 2024
  Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab delivered 766 jets in 2024 and looked certain to maintain leadership of the jetmaking industry for a sixth year as arch-rival Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab recovers cautiously from a prolonged internal crisis, company data showed on Thursday. The European planemaker fell fractionally short of its target of "around 770" jets but said it had met the goal after giving itself a margin for error as global supply chains remain hampered by parts and labour shortages. Jefferies analyst Chloe Lemarie said the missing four aircraft were small A220 models, leaving deliveries of the widely used larger models in line with expectations.

• 2024 was the first year above 1.5C of global warming, scientists say
  The world just experienced the first full year in which global temperatures exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial times, scientists said on Friday.
  The milestone was confirmed by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which said climate change is pushing the planet's temperature to levels never before experienced by modern humans. "The trajectory is just incredible," C3S director Carlo Buontempo told Reuters, describing how every month in 2024 was the warmest or second-warmest for that month since records began.

• UAE, Saudi markets eye fresh wave of blockbuster IPOs after record 2024

  This comes as the Gulf region’s two largest economies build on a year that saw Saudi Arabia list 57 companies while the UAE raised $6 billion from just seven IPOs. The UAE’s IPO pipeline could include potential landmark deals such as national carrier Etihad Airways, online marketplace Dubizzle, hospitality firm Five Holdings, and IT company Alpha Data, though none have officially confirmed listing plans. The two markets are taking markedly different approaches to public offerings. The UAE has focused on fewer but larger deals, with food delivery platform Talabat and retailer Lulu Group leading seven listings that collectively raised AED22 billion ($6 billion) in 2024. Other significant listings included Abu Dhabi National Hotels Catering, NMDC Energy, Alef Education, Spinneys, and Parkin.

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