News Briefing for February 2024

February 29  Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih announced that over 350 international investors have so far obtained licenses to establish their regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia, most of which will be in Riyadh.

 

February 28  Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that the ministry is working on a program to Saudize 75 percent of jobs in the energy sector.

 

February 27  The National Transformation Program, one of the Saudi Vision 2030 programs, was able to accomplish 34 strategic goals, equivalent to 35 percent, last year, out of 96 goals set to be achieved by 2030.

 

Feb 26  Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund has hired banks to tap the debt market for the second time this year with an Islamic dollar bond, a document emailed to the banks and reviewed by Reuters showed.

 

Feb 20   A subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund with ambitions to develop sophisticated technology announced a $200 million partnership with a Chinese surveillance technology company Dahua Technology previously sanctioned by the United States.

 

Feb 20   Saudi Arabia has invited the market to join a public consultation on a planned framework to enable large shareholders to float additional shares, said Abdullah Binghannam, Deputy of Financing and Investment, Capital Market Authority.

 

Feb 19   Saudi Arabia's non-oil growth is expected to come in above 5% in the medium term, Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan said, slightly lower than the 6% figure previously projected, but likely to outperform the wider region this year.

 

Feb 12   Saudi Arabia's U-turn on its oil capacity expansion plans was because of the energy transition, its energy minister said , adding that the kingdom has plenty of spare capacity to cushion the oil market.

 

Feb 07   Saudi Arabia drew 27 million foreign tourists in 2023 and has more than doubled its goal for the end of the decade, an official said.


News Briefing for January 2024

January 31    The balance of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Saudi Arabia jumped to SR762 billion ($203.2 billion) by the end of 2022, compared to 2021 when it reached SR659 billion ($175.7 billion).


January 23    Mohammed Elkuwaiz, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA), said that the authority intends to allow non-Saudis to invest for the first time in listed companies that own real estate in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.


January 15    The Consumer Price Index or inflation in Saudi Arabia recorded a decrease of 1.5 percent during December 2023, compared to December 2022, which recorded a rate of 1.7 percent.


January 4    The Saudi Ministry of Investment has revealed that it issued more than 2100 investment licenses in the third quarter of 2023, with a growth rate of 135.4 percent on an annual basis. 


January 4    The Saudi Ministry of Commerce revealed that more than 95,000 commercial registers have been issued during the fourth quarter of 2023, an increase of 23 percent year-on-year, bringing the total commercial registers to more than 1.4 million by the end of the year.