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Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia to boost spending in 2023, GDP growth to slow down

Saudi Arabia expects to post a surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP in 2023, a drop from an expected surplus of 2.3 percent this year, which was revised downwards slightly, a preliminary budget statement showed on Friday, as it boosts spending amid a windfall from oil revenues. Saudi Arabia expects total revenues at 1.123 trillion […]

Computer Keyboard, Computer, Hardware

PIF-owned Savvy Games unveils $37.8bn global ambition strategy

Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, wholly-owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), will invest SAR 142 billion ($37.8 billion) across four programmes that aim to make the kingdom a global hub for gaming by 2030. The initiatives will include SAR 70 billion to take several minority stakes in companies that support Savvy’s game development agenda […]

AIDA is the first development Dar Al Arkan are building in Oman

Saudi developer to sell utility NFTs on its $1.6bn Oman project

Saudi Arabia’s largest listed real estate developer plans to drop a limited number of utility non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for its $1.6 billion project in Oman next month. Unlike the art and collectibles digital asset, utility non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are built to give their holders certain perks, such as exclusive access to events and items or […]

Oilfield

Arabian Drilling IPO may fetch $710m as book-building starts

Arabian Drilling Company, a Saudi oilfield services firm, will price its planned initial public offering (IPO) between SAR 90 ($23.89) and SAR 100 ($26.55) per share, HSBC Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday. HSBC Saudi Arabia, Goldman Sachs Saudi Arabia and SNB Capital are joint financial advisers, bookrunners and underwriters for the IPO, which could fetch […]

Saudi wealth fund’s returns hit 25% in 2021 as markets recover

The Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, offered 25 percent returns to shareholders last year as global stock markets rebounded, Bloomberg reported, citing the fund’s prospectus for its debt green bond sale. Investor returns more than doubled from an annual average of 12 percent between 2017 and 2020. However, 2021 returns matched […]

Person, Human, Clothing

Saudi Arabia’s PIF hires banks for debut green bonds issuance

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has hired banks including Citi and JPMorgan to arrange a debut issuance of multi-tranche US dollar-denominated green bonds, a document showed on Tuesday. Sources told Reuters earlier this month that PIF would issue the long-planned green bonds this month or in October. BNP Paribas, Citi, […]

Face, Person, Human

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman named prime minister

Saudi King Salman has appointed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as prime minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle, state-owned SPA news agency reported. As part of the reshuffle, Prince Khalid bin Salman will become defence minister, while Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Bunyan was named education minister. The ministers retaining their positions are the energy minister Prince […]

Fugro uncrewed surface vessel

Dutch engineer’s remote-control craft to monitor Gulf oil and gas

Dutch civil engineer Fugro is launching uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) to monitor oil and gas infrastructure in the waters off the UAE. The 12-metre-long vessels are controlled from the shore without the need for any crew. Conventional craft that inspect offshore assets have six to seven crew members and operate on shift patterns; the USVs […]

Saudi Arabia launches five renewable energy projects

The state-owned Saudi Power Procurement Company has launched five renewable energy projects to produce 3,300 MW of electricity, Saudi Press Agency has reported. The wind energy projects in Yanbu, Al-Ghat and Waad Al Shamal have a combined capacity of 1,800 MW, generating 700 MW, 600 MW and 500 MW respectively. With a total production capacity of […]

Gulf oil CEOs attack ‘unrealistic’ energy transition goals

Saudi Aramco’s CEO has lambasted the “unrealistic” energy transition scenarios that he claims have exacerbated a global energy crisis. His counterpart at Abu Dhabi National Co (ADNOC) also warned that efforts to tackle climate change could prove counterproductive if they slow economic growth.  In unusually fiery comments, Aramco CEO and president Amin Nasser warned that […]

Oman-Saudi trade doubles to $3.24bn in H1 2022

Bilateral trade between Oman and Saudi Arabia more than doubled to exceed OR 1.249 billion ($3.24 billion) during the first half of 2022, compared to OR 595 million in the year-earlier period, Oman Daily Observer reported. Saudi Arabia’s exports to Oman reached OR 831 million, with metals topping the chart with OR 538 million. On […]

Saudi Arabia to send first Saudi woman to space in 2023

Saudi Arabia will send the first Saudi woman to space in 2023 as part of the Saudi Space Commission’s (SSC) new astronaut program, state-owned Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. The kingdom’s first space program will send a Saudi crew to space as it plans to launch its National Space Strategy in the coming months, which […]

Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Arifi

New CEO named for Saudi’s $1.3trn private sector push

A new CEO has been appointed to the Private Sector Partnership Reinforcement Program which aims to facilitate investments of $1.33 trillion from Saudi private sector businesses by 2030. Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Arifi, advisor to the Secretariat General of the Cabinet and a former CEO of finance at Jadwa Investment, has been hired to lead the […]

Saudi Arabia buys astronaut seats from Elon Musk’s SpaceX

Saudi Arabia is planning to launch two astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a space capsule from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, becoming the latest Gulf nation to strengthen ties with private US space companies, according to three people familiar with the arrangement. The sources, speaking anonymously to discuss the mission’s crew before its formal announcement, […]

Saudi capital spending surges 38% on back of higher oil prices

Capital expenditure surged in Saudi Arabia in the first half of 2022, part of a wider spending spree on the back of higher oil prices. S&P Global Ratings said capital expenditure (capex) rose by 38 percent to SR51 billion ($13.6 billion) despite this year’s initial budget statement forecasting it would fall. Revenue was up 43 […]

PIF unit to expand New York team amid US investment drive

A subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is planning to hire staff for its New York office as it prepares to boost investments in the US market, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. USSA International, the wholly-owned unit of the $620 billion sovereign wealth fund, expects to hire nearly 50 staff for its New […]

Israel’s El Al will begin Tel Aviv to Tokyo flights in March

El Al Israel Airlines will start direct flights from Tel Aviv to Tokyo next March, it said on Monday – two years after the launch was delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Israel’s flag carrier has been looking to expand eastbound flights since its second-quarter results showed a rebound from the slump in travel during […]

Each Dave & Buster's has a full-service restaurant and a video arcade

Texas entertainment brand set to expand to the Middle East

Dave & Buster’s, an entertainment and hospitality brand based in Dallas, is expanding to the Middle East. Following the signing of a 10-year franchise agreement with Saudi firm Abdul Mohsen Al Hokair Holding Group, the aim is to open the first of eleven venues next year. Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Coppell, Texas, the […]

Arabian Drilling plans to list 30% of shares on Saudi exchange

Saudi Arabia-based oil and gas drilling contractor Arabian Drilling is planning an initial public offering (IPO) on the kingdom’s main exchange. The offer consists of a secondary offering of 19.89 percent of the company’s total share capital through the sale of 17.70 million shares and a primary offering of 10.11 percent via the issuance of […]

Saudi crown prince will not attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is not expected to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday, Reuters reported, citing a source at the British foreign office. The Gulf state will be represented by Prince Turki bin Mohammed al Saud, the source added. Prince Turki is a minister of state and a member of the […]

Apple, Amazon pass on media rights to Saudi-backed LIV Golf

Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc have both passed on the media rights to the LIV Golf tournament, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Critics have said that LIV Golf, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, amounts to “sportswashing” by a nation trying to improve its reputation in […]

Saudi inflation up 3% in August on higher food and transport costs

Saudi Arabia’s consumer price index rose three percent in August from a year earlier, official data showed on Thursday, accelerating from a 2.7 percent pace in July. Food and beverages and transport prices were again the main driver of inflation in August, both rising four percent, the General Authority for Statistics said in a statement. […]