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  • Saudi best in MidEast for doing business
     

    Saudi Arabia is the best country in the Middle East for doing business, according to a new study published by the World Bank. The Gulf kingdom, the world’s largest oil producer, was ranked 22nd globally in the ‘Doing Business 2013’ report, ahead of neighbour the UAE which placed 26th. Elsewhere in the GCC, Qatar came […]

     
  • The Saudi Economy: Still Shining
     

    A recently released October 2012 economic report by Jadwa Investment finds that a recent flow of data has been generally stronger than expected, and as a result of high oil production (which elevates the hydrocarbon sector growth to 6.1 percent for the year) Jadwa raises its projections for Saudi Arabia’s budget and current account surpluses. […]

     
  • Energy policy: What we need to talk about
     

    For starters, the United States is already over 80 percent (up from 70 percent a decade ago) self sufficient when it comes to energy production and use. We are routinely described as the Saudi Arabia of coal, and have the largest nuclear fleet in the world. We are the world’s largest natural gas producer and […]

     
  • Randa Hudome: How do I get my business over to the Middle East?
     

    In addition to featured speakers such as President Bill Clinton and Mr. Abdullah Alireza the recent C3 Summit in New York City presented a number of compelling panel discussions addressing commercial and trade issues related to doing business in the MENA region.

     
  • Saudi oil sales to U.S. robust despite refinery upsets
     

    Saudi Arabia appears to be keeping its pledge to ensure global markets are well supplied with oil, barely letting up in shipments to the United States even after two of its biggest refining customers suffered crippling glitches. A Reuters analysis of U.S. import data shows sales to the world’s top oil consumer have dipped less […]

     
  • Public policy considerations in Saudi Arabia’s new Arbitration Law
     

    We see plenty of coverage these days of Saudi Arabia’s growing economy; and justifiably so.  Expansionary government spending, elevated oil prices, a strong banking system, a maturing private-sector, increasing diversification, growing foreign investment and other factors contribute to an exciting period for Saudi Arabia. While elevated oil prices have fueled Saudi Arabia’s impressive recent growth, […]

     
  • Dubai and Saudi Chambers seek stronger ties
     

    To share expertise and best practice across the GCC region, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted a delegation led by the Council of Saudi Chambers at its head office recently. The group of 17 senior officials from various Saudi chambers of commerce, led by Omar A. Bahlaiwa, Secretary General of the Council of Saudi […]

     
  • Saudi market opening to take ‘a while’ as conditions debated
     

    Saudi Arabia — the largest, most liquid and yet least accessible stock market in the Arab world — is considering opening its stock market to foreign investors in a move that could help turn the local market into a regional trading hub. But when the kingdom will make its final decision on this proposal, which […]

     
  • Jadwa Investment: Shifts in Foreign Investor Flows and the TASI
     

    A recently released Jadwa Investment report discusses shifts in foreign investment in the Saudi stock market, also known as the TASI. “Big changes in foreign investment in the Saudi stock market tend to come ahead of moves in the TASI, meaning that local investors can benefit from tracking what foreign investors are doing. In six of the seven […]

     
  • High capital/solid profitability: Saudi banking system remains stable
     

    The outlook for Saudi Arabia’s banking system remains stable, says Moody’s Investors Service in a new Banking System Outlook. The key drivers of the outlook are (1) a benign operating environment; (2) low problem loan levels; (3) strong loss-absorption capacity, underpinned by high capital buffers and solid profitability; and (4) the sector’s stable, low-cost deposit […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Reports of the petrodollar system’s demise are ‘fake news’ – here’s why

    "The evidence for any kind of conspiracy is thin to nonexistent," Brew told MarketWatch in an interview on Friday. "There is a very clear record of both the Americans and the Saudis being concerned in the aftermath of the global oil shock of what Saudi surpluses would do to the global economy."

    "It was a very common-sense solution to a mutual problem," he added.

  • Opinion: For Hamas, Everything Is Going According to Plan

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to have concluded that the best way to stay out of prison on corruption charges is to stay in office, and the best way to do that is to keep the war going. Hamas, meanwhile, believes that it is winning. On October 13, I wrote in these pages that Hamas had set a trap for Israel. The trap has sprung; Israel is fully enmeshed in it, with no evident way out, and Hamas is getting exactly what it hoped for.

  • Saudi FM Holds Talks with High-level Officials on Sidelines of Ukraine Peace Summit

    Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah met on Saturday with a number of world leaders and officials on the sidelines of the peace summit on Ukraine in Lucerne, Switzerland, including President of the European Council Charles Michel.

  • Chile says Saudi mining minister to visit, lithium expected on agenda

    Chile's government said on Saturday that Saudi Arabia's mining minister will travel to the Latin American country in July and plans to meet with his counterpart in Santiago.
    Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef told Reuters in March the kingdom was interested in sourcing lithium abroad, as it aims to enter the electric vehicle sector.
    "He will indeed be in Chile (in July) and has asked for a meeting with the minister. But the date is not yet set," the ministry said in an email to Reuters.

  • Why is Saudi Arabia cutting funding, reducing costs on ambitious projects?

    Over the last few months, employees working for state-backed Saudi companies have been startled by unforeseen cost cuts. It started during the first quarter of 2024 and affected those working in diverse sectors across the kingdom, from the media to the country's ambitious giga projects. Department spendings were significantly reduced, employees were made redundant and managements did everything big and small to save money, causing an atmosphere of tension and uncertainty.  

  • Saudi Arabia inflation remains at 1.6% in May

     Saudi Arabia's annual inflation rate remained at 1.6% for the third month running in May, government data showed on Sunday, with higher housing rents still the main driver.
    Housing rents rose 10.5% from a year earlier underpinned by a 14.3% rise in apartment rents, according to the General Authority for Statistics.
    Overall, prices in the subcategory of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels rose 8.7% from the previous year.

  • Netanyahu disbands his inner war cabinet

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war cabinet, an Israeli official said on Monday, in a widely expected move that came after the departure from government of the centrist former general Benny Gantz.
    Netanyahu is now expected to hold consultations about the Gaza war with a small group of ministers, including Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer who had been in the war cabinet.

  • Ukraine summit strives for consensus, way forward uncertain

    Western powers and their allies at a summit in Switzerland denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Sunday, but they failed to persuade major non-aligned states to join their final statement, and no country came forward to host a sequel. Over 90 countries attended the two-day talks at a Swiss Alpine resort at the behest of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, billed as a "peace summit" even though Moscow was not invited.

  • Brazil joins race to loosen China’s grip on rare earths industry

    Mining giant Brazil has big ambitions to build a rare earths industry as Western economies push to secure the metals needed for magnets used in green energy and defence and break China's dominance of the supply chain. Working to its advantage are low labour costs, clean energy, established regulations and proximity to end markets, including Latin America's first magnet plant which would provide a ready buyer for the metals.

  • How the Saudis won back Biden

    But at its core was a realpolitik realisation in Washington that in the game of great-power competition, Saudi Arabia was too important to ignore, with concerns that if the administration did not engage with Riyadh, a traditional US ally would fall deeper into the orbit of China and Russia. “How do you keep Russia from aligning with Saudi Arabia? You have to have a relationship [with the Saudis]; how do you keep China from aligning with Saudi Arabia? You have a relationship,” says Jon Alterman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.