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Saudi Arabia Vision 2030

Saudi Arabia's 130 GW renewable target by 2030 hinges on securing equipment and local expertise for its growing solar and wind farms

Equipment and workforce key for Saudi renewables

Nacelles and blades, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and high voltage direct current (HVDC) cables, solar modules and wafers. A surge in large-scale renewable projects – such as the 2GW Al Shuaibah 2 solar project and 1.5GW Dawadmi wind farm – means the kingdom needs to secure equipment and expertise if it is to come […]

The PIF Tower in Riyadh. Despite some misses, Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 shows progress in key areas like Public Investment Fund growth

Saudi Vision 2030 exceeds PIF targets, but others lag

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) exceeded its 2024 target for assets under management by $60 billion, but the kingdom missed other annual goals in its Vision 2030 economic transformation and social development strategy. PIF now manages about $940 billion of assets, nearly 7 percent above its $880 billion target for the year, according to […]

Saudi Arabia reports record non-oil exports in 2024

Saudi Arabia’s exports of goods and services – excluding oil – hit a record SAR515 billion ($137 billion) last year, the state-run SPA news agency reported, as the world’s second largest oil producer seeks to diversify its economy away from hydrocarbons. The exports, which include re-exports, rose 13 percent over the last year and have […]

People on the Jeddah waterfront. The Marafy canal will run 10km inland from the coast

Jeddah’s residential canal project takes shape

Construction work on Marafy, a residential canal-waterfront project in Saudi Arabia’s second city, Jeddah, is gathering pace. Driven by Roshn Group, the property developer unit of the government’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the development will have capacity to house more than 130,000 people.  Though no cost for the Marafy project has been made public, in […]

FORMULA 1 STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX 2023

Saudi ticketing app webook plans European expansion

Riyadh-based Webook, which describes itself as Saudi Arabia’s largest booking platform for events and experiences, says it is expanding beyond the Middle East into Europe to tap a growing market for ticketing. Set up in 2016 under the name Hala Yalla, Webook initially focussed as a service to book football pitches, before expanding to include […]

Street vendors in the historic Balad district of Jeddah. Falling oil prices have hit the Saudi economy

Saudi Arabia’s debt burden ‘to rise more quickly’, says IMF

The International Monetary Fund has revised its forecast for Saudi Arabia’s debt burden as tumbling oil prices dent the country’s revenues. The IMF is now projecting that Saudi government gross debt will be 44.5 percent of GDP by 2029, according to the twice-yearly Fiscal Monitor released in Washington DC on Wednesday.  In last October’s report, […]

An attendee at the Education Global Exhibition in Riyadh, which highlights new technologies. More than 8 million young Saudis will enter the workforce by 2040

AI classes to prepare Saudi pupils for the new world

Saudi secondary school pupils will soon have classes on artificial intelligence (AI) added to their curriculum. More than 50,000 17 and 18-year-olds will be offered the Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course, a joint initiative between the ministry of education and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority. It is part of an effort by the […]

MECCA, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA (KSA) - JUNE 5, 2023:Muslim hajj pilgrims exit Al Haram mosque after evening prayers with Abraj Al Bait Zamzam tower (L) and Hilton Hotel Makkah (R) in the background.

Affordability is the key for Saudi hotel expansion

Al Farhan Group, a family-owned company with 16 three- to four-star hotels across Saudi Arabia, plans to open at least one hotel every year for the next several years. Its ambitions reflect those of the Saudi government, which wants to encourage more domestic and inbound business and leisure travel and almost double the number of […]

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People November 9, 2017 in Beijing, Peoples Republic of China

China’s investors seek shelter from Trump in Saudi Arabia

President Trump’s trade war is strengthening economic ties between Saudi Arabia and China and encouraging Chinese investors to increase their holdings in the kingdom, analysts say.  As China and its near neighbours face the imposition of economic tariffs – “the most beautiful word in the world”, according to the 47th president – Saudi Arabia has […]

Many workers in Saudi Arabia are seeking a return to more structured corporate environments, even if it means sacrificing salary and benefits, one expert says

Saudi jobs growth ‘likely to halve’ as PIF reins in spending

Employment growth in Saudi Arabia will halve by 2026 as the kingdom reins in spending and focuses on delivering Vision 2030 projects, recruitment and real estate specialists are saying. Growth in recruitment for jobs in the Saudi economy, after hitting a high of nearly 10 percent in 2022, will slow to 3 percent by 2026, […]

Yasir Al Rumayyan, the governor of PIF at the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational. Some PIF budgets have been cut by as much as 60%

PIF spending cuts slow giga-projects and trigger layoffs

Saudi Arabia’s $925 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF) has ordered deep spending cuts across more than 100 of its companies, slowing projects and triggering layoffs, people familiar with the matter have told AGBI. The sovereign wealth fund at the heart of the government’s economic transformation strategy is mandating a minimum 20 percent reduction in 2025 […]

Umm Al Qura’s multi-billion Masar project in Mecca is one of the largest redevelopments in the region and is likely to attract a lot of investors when shares start trading

Mecca property developer shares could jump after IPO

Shares in Saudi Arabia’s Umm Al Qura, which will start trading on the main stock exchange on Monday following an initial public offering, should attract “a lot of interest” from investors looking to capitalise on the real estate market in one of Islam’s holiest cities, analysts have said. The company, which is overseeing a mixed-use […]

The mirrored building in Madain Saleh at the Alula giga-project in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia still needs consultants despite PwC ban

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund may have banned the global professional services giant PwC from any new advisory work for the next year, but the kingdom still needs all the help it can get, according to analysts. The country is spending billions of dollars on infrastructure and other projects as it attempts to diversify its […]

A Neom exhibition. Saudi Arabia is looking for funds for such projects and its PIF has signed an MoU with a credit agency from Italy

PIF signs $3bn deal with Italy’s export credit agency

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund said on Wednesday it had signed a memorandum of understanding worth $3 billion with Italy’s export credit agency, SACE. The sovereign wealth fund is working to boost finances to fund the country’s giga-projects. “The MoU focuses on providing financing support for co-operation between Italian companies in the private sector and […]

Aramco is facing a projected 30 percent drop in oil dividends

Saudi deficit to rise after $40bn loss in Aramco oil dividends

A projected 30 percent drop in Saudi Aramco’s oil dividends in 2025 is likely to force the government and state-owned Saudi Public Investment Fund to step up borrowing to fund infrastructure and other projects under the kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic and social strategy, analysts say. The world’s largest oil company intends to cut dividends to […]

UK company PwC's non-audit services include mergers and acquisitions, tax advisory, strategy and consulting work

PIF temporarily suspends PwC from advisory work  

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has temporarily barred UK company PwC from securing advisory and consulting contracts until February 2026, according to a news report. The ban extends to the sovereign wealth fund’s more than 100 subsidiaries, Bloomberg reported citing informed sources. However, auditing projects continue as before. In May 2023, PwC received a license […]