“The message seems to be that now is a moment for tough fiscal discipline that will benefit the country in the long-term, and that may be true. However, recovery will be slow, unemployment will become more entrenched, and an uptick will be dependent on oil price increases and global demand picking up next year.”
-Karen Young, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, comments on the recent hike in VAT in Saudi Arabia in an article by Ahmed Al-Omran for Financial Times. [Financial Times]
“We’ve actually done that research, and we asked chefs around the world. Their answer was: ‘We honestly don’t know, it’s a shame. We do not have an idea of what you eat.’ And that’s probably why they can’t really relate sometimes to us, as we [the Saudis] are so diverse.”
-Mayada Badr, pastry chef and CEO of the Saudi Culinary Arts Commission. The commission has been studying Saudi food and how it is viewed on the international stage, and has hired researchers to allocate the origins of Saudi dishes. [arabnews.com]
“The amount of constraint that people are feeling, the suffocation — this is a chance.”
-Fahd Hamidaddin, chief executive of the Saudi Tourism Authority, is quoted in a Bloomberg report on numerous country’s efforts to promote domestic tourism during Covid-19. “Countries with large outbound travel markets and which typically run a tourism deficit are best placed to benefit from this trend.” [Bloomberg]
“Initially a YouTube phenomenon that aired in 2012, Takki (meaning ‘chill’) gained wide popularity for its progressive approach and relatable premises. As a result, Takki was one of the most popularly received YouTube series originating out of the Middle East.”
-Netflix is now featuring season one and two of ‘Takki’ a homegrown Saudi series written and produced by Mohammad Makki that explores the story of a young Saudi film director as he looks at various issues in the Kingdom. [Broadcast Pro Middle East]
“Aside from Israel, the MENA region doesn’t hold any significant R&D leadership positions. Even in oil and gas, most of the intellectual property that Gulf entities own was developed abroad. That needs to change; we need to develop a capacity to solve our existential challenges — water, climate and energy — for ourselves and then export out solutions to others that also need them…There are tons of areas we should be focused on, including water purification, sustainable farming and building cooling. These are all areas where we have domestic use cases for innovative solutions.”
-Ali Al-Salim, a Gulf-based investor, adviser and co-founder of Arkan Partners, in comments to Al Monitor about how research and development could hold the key to an economic reset. [Al Monitor]
“I was so happy when I received the call and to be part of this year’s Hajj delegation after what I have been through, it is so great.”
-Dr. Zeyed Helmy, a dermatologist at King Fahad General Hospital heard he had been selected by the health ministry on Monday. With the 2020 Hajj severely curtailed in order to combat the spread of Covid-19 only 1,000 people will be allowed to perform Hajj in Makkah this year. Front-line health workers have been prioritized to receive 300 of these slots. [The National]
“Saudi tourists are among the world’s top spenders – spending $9.65 billion abroad in 2019.”
-Saleh Fareed in The National reports on the Saudi Tourism Authority’s (STA) recently announced domestic tourism campaign, ‘Saudi Summer’, which will run until September 30 and promote attractions in 10 locations across the country. The STA is attempting to redirect Saudi tourist spending to domestic destinations. [The National]
“Like the wine industry, the oil market has its own vintages: global refiners seek their barrels much like connoisseurs covet bottles of Bordeaux and Burgundy. Urals of Russia and Arab Light from Saudi Arabia are normally two of the most widely consumed — think Cabernet Sauvignon, maybe a Merlot. But in today’s oil market, such crude is in increasingly short supply due to record output cuts by the two nations and their allies.”
-Javier Blas waxes poetic about the fluctuating market for sweet and sour crudes. [Yahoo Finance]
“I’m struggling to come up with a conclusion that doesn’t sound like a cheesy “turns out, we’re all just the same” TV special.”
-Daniel Kennett and his wife traveled to Saudi Arabia in February 2020. “I’m not usually one to post my holiday pictures publicly, since, well… who cares? However, my trip to Saudi Arabia was so unlike any trip I’ve done before, and so unlike what other people told me it would be like, I thought I’d share.” [iKenndac]
“When compared with American and European efforts, China spends less and creates fewer jobs in most of the Middle East, North Africa and West Asia. Indeed, the GCC states have higher capital expenditure and create more employment across the Middle East and North Africa than China.”
-Karen Young comments in Bloomberg about misperceptions regarding China’s increased presence in the MENA region. [Bloomberg]
