Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, grew 1.2 percent from a year earlier in the fourth quarter of 2016, official data has showed. The rate of growth increased compared with 0.9 percent in the third quarter, which was the slowest rate in over three years, according to preliminary data from the country’s Central Department of Statistics showed. They also showed that the Q4 GDP growth […]
Event will gather together CEOs, CMOs, Presidents and VPs from across the region and beyond Riyadh KSA, April 1 2017: For the first time, Saudi Arabia will host the ‘Top CEO Conference and Awards’ – an event which will see CEOs, CMOs, Presidents and VPs from across the Arabian Gulf region and beyond gather together on 10th and 11th April 2017 at Bay La Sun Hotel & […]
Government led investment is driving a surge in domestic tourism across Saudi Arabia – with experts predicting a 40 percent surge in the number of internal trips made between 2015 and 2020. The Euromonitor International Tourism Forecast report, prepared ahead of The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia 2017, has revealed record levels of domestic travel within the kingdom. Following the announcement of Saudi Vision 2030 – the country’s […]
Saudi Aramco has formally appointed JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley and HSBC as international financial advisers for its initial public offering, expected to be the world’s largest equity sale, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The trio join Moelis & Co and Evercore, which have been appointed independent financial advisers, one source said. The company has also appointed Saudi Arabia’s NCB Capital and Samba Capital […]
New photovoltaic plant will add 61.3 MWp of installed energy capacity to Risha, Jordan Lowest tariff for solar energy ever presented for a Jordan-based photovoltaic project The plant marks ACWA Power’s strategy of continuous investment Jordan, and its second Solar Photovoltaic Plant The new PV plant will bring the installed capacity in Jordan as controlled by ACWA Power to 1,665 MW further consolidating ACWA […]
The Saudi Film Festival opened Monday with 58 homegrown cinematic works to be screened in the ultra-conservative kingdom that continues to ban public cinemas. “Welcome to all of you, filmmakers, makers of art and makers of hope,” festival director Ahmed al-Mulla told participants at the opening ceremony, which was broadcast online. The fourth edition of the festival had been slated to run from March 23-28 in the […]
Jordan’s state media say public and private sector officials from Saudi Arabia and Jordan have signed 15 economic agreements, including establishing a joint fund that will launch an estimated $3 billion worth of investments in Jordan. The Petra news agency says the agreements were signed after a meeting late Monday between Saudi King Salman and Jordan’s King Abdullah II. Planned projects include reconstruction and rehabilitation of a […]
“The new tax rate will bring Saudi Aramco in line with international benchmarks,” Saudi Aramco’s chief executive officer, Amin H. Nasser, said in a statement. Continue reading the main story The tax cut was announced a couple of months after intensive discussions with international bankers in Riyadh about how the offering should be structured. Bankers and independent specialists said the cut would help increase the cash flow […]
New York // The Pentagon is considering throwing its weight behind an Arab military plan to capture a Red Sea port in Yemen as part of a move to step up its support for the Saudi-led coalition that has fought a two-year war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. Senior officials said it was part of a new stance adopted by US president Donald Trump’s administration to deepen ties […]
A Saudi soldier was killed by a missile fired by rebels in Yemen that struck a military base near the border, the interior ministry said on Friday. The missile was launched late Thursday from a rebel-controlled area in Yemen and hit a base in Dhahran South, killing border guard Atallah Yassine Al-Anzi, according to a statement carried by Saudi Arabia’s official news agency. Saudi Arabia intercepted a […]
GENEVA: Saudi Arabia called for delegating more experts to the Yemen-based Human Rights Commission’s Office, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.The move is important in order to back up workings of the Independent National Committee, in identifying violations and trespasses committed on the ground, SPA noted.Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Wassel, the Saudi Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, recently addressed the 34th session of the Human Rights Council in […]
Abu Dhabi investment firm Waha Capital is in talks with potential partners in Saudi Arabia as it looks to diversify investment in some key sectors outside the United Arab Emirates (UAE), its chairman said. Saudi Arabia is opening its economy to foreign investment as part of its 2030 vision whereby the Middle Eastern country will rely less on oil and create more jobs for its citizens. Waha […]
By Henning Gloystein | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Oil prices edged up on Friday, supported by a fall in Saudi exports to the United States, but overall markets remained under pressure on the back of a world market awash with fuel. Prices for front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil, were at $50.63 per barrel at 0343 GMT, up 7 cents from their last close. In […]
Saudi Arabia executed two convicted drug traffickers on Thursday, bringing the number of prisoners killed in the kingdom to 20 so far this year. The state-run SPA news agency named the two men as Saudi Arabian national Nasser Harshan and Pakistani national Namtallah Khasta Qul. Both were put to death on Thursday after being convicted of drug trafficking in the conservative kingdom. SPA said Harshan was a […]
Saudi Arabia plans to tighten restrictions on foreign workers to pressure companies into hiring more Saudi citizens and reduce unemployment among Saudis, government sources said on Monday. The new policy could help the conservative kingdom achieve one goal of economic reforms launched last year to ease joblessness among Saudis from the current 12.1 percent to 9 percent by 2020. But by making it harder for firms to […]
By Marwa Rashad and Celine Aswad | RIYADH/DUBAI RIYADH/DUBAI Saudi Arabia plans to tighten restrictions on foreign workers to pressure companies into hiring more Saudi citizens and reduce unemployment among Saudis, government sources said on Monday. The new policy could help the conservative kingdom achieve one goal of economic reforms launched last year to ease joblessness among Saudis from the current 12.1 percent to 9 percent by […]
An advance alert was issued on Sunday following a sandstorm that hit the western city of Jeddah and other areas of Saudi Arabia. “Jeddah was on advance alert this morning but the condition is mild now,”said Hussein Al-Qahtani, official spokesperson of the General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection (PME). Jeddah’s case is the lowest on the scale of climate severity, he said. The sandstorm, named Madar […]
Saudi Arabia said on Friday it had completed all necessary arrangements for Iranian pilgrims to attend the annual haj pilgrimage, the official SPA news agency said, an issue that has created tensions between the two regional powers in the past. The news agency said the arrangements were completed after a meeting took place with an Iranian delegation on February 23. Iran’s Tasnim news agency said on March […]
DUBAI Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, who was on an official tour in Asia, has left China to head back to his kingdom, the state news agency SPA reported on Friday. Saudi Arabia’s octogenarian monarch, who has overseen the launch of an ambitious economic reform plan since his accession two years ago, was on a month-long tour of Asia that took him to Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and China. […]
Beijing, China – 16 March 2017 On the sidelines of King Salman bin Abdulaziz visit to China and during the 2017 ‘Saudi-China Investment Forum’, Huawei Tech. Investment Saudi Arabia and Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu have signed a milestone agreement to establish a training academy and a smart city innovation center in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, accelerating smart city deployment in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. […]
Photo Muslim pilgrims circled the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Mecca last year. Credit Nariman El-Mofty/Associated Press BEIRUT, Lebanon — Saudi Arabia said on Friday that Iranians would be able to participate in this year’s hajj pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, a rare bright spot in relations between the two regional rivals. No Iranian pilgrims attended the hajj last year because of […]
Saudi Arabia’s push to boost political and trade ties with the Maldives faces growing resistance as activists in the archipelago oppose plans for an ambitious development project funded by the kingdom. King Salman bin Abdulaziz, who is on a month-long tour of Asia as Saudi Arabia seeks to deepen alliances with predominantly Muslim states in the region, is due to visit the Indian Ocean nation at the […]
A Saudi soldier was killed by gunmen late on Tuesday in the Eastern city of Qatif, in an incident the interior ministry said was carried out by “terrorist elements”. The security patrol came under fire upon approaching a suspicious vehicle, the statement carried by state news agency SPA, adding that the gunmen fled the area. Eastern Province is home to much of Saudi Arabia’s oil production as […]
Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) has received enquiries from companies from the Gulf Cooperation Council considering listing on its new parallel market, Nomu, a senior executive said on Tuesday. The companies were in the process of appointing advisers to support their potential listings, said Yarub Awadh Albadi, head of CMA’s initial public offering unit. The Nomu market, which launched on Feb. 26, is designed for small […]
The president was expected to urge Saudi Arabia to support safe zones in Syria, which the administration has argued would be an alternative to accepting thousands of refugees from a country that has been ripped apart by six years of civil war. Continue reading the main story Mr. Trump and members of his inner circle regard Saudi Arabia as a vital component of the White House strategy […]
Toyota Motor Corp signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Tuesday with a Saudi Arabian government agency to conduct a feasibility study into producing vehicles and parts in the Middle Eastern nation. The move, if firmed up, would be a big step for the Saudi economy as the government tries to diversify beyond oil exports and create jobs as part of the kingdom’s 2030 Vision. So far, […]
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, moved to allay fears that the kingdom was backing away from its pledge to curb production, underlining its concern about a 10 per cent plunge in the crude price over the past week. The kingdom’s energy ministry rushed out a rare statement on Tuesday asserting its commitment to “stabilising the global oil market”, just as global benchmark Brent crude slipped […]
The head of the main film festival in Saudi Arabia, where cinemas are banned, wants the government to invest in the sector as part of its campaign to encourage entertainment. Ahmed AlMulla made the comments in an interview with AFP ahead of the fourth Saudi Film Festival, which runs from March 23-28 in the Gulf coastal city of Dhahran. This year’s festival is the first since the […]
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has asked Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to support the listing of Saudi state oil giant Aramco shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a Japanese senior government official said on Monday. King Salman said that the kingdom would look into the request because he wants Japanese investors to buy Aramco shares, the official said after the two leaders met. Bourses in Asia and […]
Monday, March 13, 2017 Alwaleed Philanthropies (AP), chaired by HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz AlSaud, announced an innovative new partnership with Thomson Reuters Foundation focused on empowering Saudi female journalists, during the first of its kind conference titled “The evolving role of women in Saudi Arabia” held in Riyadh on Saturday March 11, 2017. In partnership with Luxury KSA, and Smaat Company, the conference took […]
