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  • Saudi PIF in talks to invest in aspiring Tesla rival Lucid
     

    Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund (PIF) PIF, is reportedly in talks to invest in aspiring Tesla rival Lucid Motors Inc, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday. A potential investment in the privately-held Lucid Motors presents the PIF an opportunity to own a controlling stake in an electric carmaker at a fraction of the cost of its rumored […]

     
  • Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Contributes $100 Million for Syria’s Stabilization Efforts: Raqqa and Areas of Northeast Syria Liberated from ISIS
     

    Saudi Arabia has announced that it has contributed $100 million for Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS-supported stabilization projects in areas liberated from ISIS in northeast Syria, the largest Coalition contribution to date for these liberated areas. “This substantial contribution will play a critical role in the Coalition’s efforts to revitalize communities, such as Raqqa, that […]

     
  • Saudi’s SAMA Warns Against Cryptocurrencies
     

    The Saudi government has outlawed using and trading in Bitcoin, citing the high risk and negative consequences in the cryptocurrency. Saudi Arabia’s Monetary Agency (SAMA) warned against trading in digital currencies for “their negative consequences and high risks on traders as they are out of government supervision.” SAMA continued that cyptocurrencies like Bitcoin “are illegal in the kingdom […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia’s Fiscal Deficit Narrows Dramatically, Jadwa Investment Report Finds
     

    Saudi Arabia’s total government revenue soared in Q2 2018 compared with the same period last year, according to a recent report by Jadwa Investment. Revenue jumped to SR273 billion ($72.7 billion) in Q2 2018, up by 67 percent, or SR110 billion ($29.3 billion), year-on-year. Non-oil revenue saw a rise of 42 percent year-on-year, and government oil […]

     
  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Speaks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
     

    Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo spoke today with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman by phone to discuss several regional issues, according to a statement released by the State Department. Secretary Pompeo “thanked the Crown Prince for Saudi Arabia’s support for northeast Syria’s urgent stabilization needs, its engagement with the Iraqi government, and its […]

     
  • Conflicting Reports on PIF Interest in Massive Tesla Stake
     

    Conflicting reports have surfaced on the interest level of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in purchasing a large stake in Tesla, which could enable the electric car company founded by Elon Musk to go private. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is “working to be part of any investor pool that emerges to take Tesla private,” Bloomberg News […]

     
  • Saudi Aramco Appoints New Top-Level Positions During Board Meeting
     

    Saudi Aramco has made new appointments during a meeting of its board of directors, naming Khalid al-Dabbagh to become senior vice president for finance. Al-Dabbagh takes over the position from Abdallah al-Saadan, who is now chairman of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu. The board also appointed Motassim al-Maashouq to the post of president of treasury, […]

     
  • Higher Oil Prices Push Saudi Quarterly Revenue Up 67%
     

    Saudi Arabia’s second-quarter budget revenue increased 67 percent from the year-earlier period, Bloomberg reports. Revenue climbed to 273.6 billion riyals ($73 billion), boosted by an 82 percent increase in oil revenue; non-oil revenue rose 42 percent to 89.4 billion riyals ($24 billion), while the budget deficit fell to 7.4 billion riyals ($2 billion), according to […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia’s PIF Ups Stake in Tesla, Musk Considers Taking Company Private
     

    Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has bought a minority stake in Tesla at just below 5 percent, Reuters reports, citing a source familiar with the stake. Yesterday, Elon Musk took to Twitter to declare that he wanted to take Tesla private in a deal that would value the company at $70bn. “Am considering taking Tesla private […]

     
  • Report: Saudi-backed SoftBank Earnings Surge on Vision Fund Valuation
     

    SoftBank has reported a 49.2 percent surge in its latest quarterly earnings due in part to a $2.2 billion gain at its tech-focused Saudi-backed Vision Fund, Zawya reports. According to Zawya, the fund’s investment gain was a result of the sale of the Indian e-commerce company Flipkart to US chain Walmart. An increase in the value of the fund’s […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Unesco strikes partnership deal with Saudi agency to develop AlUla region’s rich heritage

    The agreement covers two programmes, the first steps in a long-term strategy. Saudi Arabia will implement a two-year partnership under Unesco’s Memory of the World Programme, promoting written heritage in the Arab world and the country, which is rich with petroglyphs representing people and animals. The Saudis will also provide support for five eight-month fellowships for young archaeologists, starting in March 2022.

  • UAE aims for 20 $1 bln startups by 2031, says minister

    The United Arab Emirates aims to become home to 20 startups worth more than $1 billion each, knownas 'unicorns', in the next decade, its Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Ahmad al-Falasi, said on Wednesday. At the launch of the Entrepreneurial Nation project in Dubai, Falasi said the UAE aimed to do more to solidify its position as a top destination for international investment in the Gulf. It has lately seen increased competition from Saudi Arabia, which has been pushing foreign firms and startups to invest there and set up regional headquarters in Riyadh.

  • European Natural Gas Prices Slump With Russia Starts Delivering Supplies

    The Russian gas giant first decreased daily transit from 124 million cubic meters to just 54 million cubic meters, and has now only returned it back to 109 million cubic meters “and promote it as significant increase of supplies to EU,” Makogon said.

  • Saudi Arabia allows quarterly renewal of residency permits for foreign workers

    Expatriates in Saudi Arabia can now renew their residency permit (iqama) on a quarter-of-a-year basis and save a digital copy of the iqama on their smartphones. These services available on Absher Afrad (Individual) platform are among a series of electronic services, mainly related to the General Directorate of Passports (Jawazat) and the Traffic Directorate, launched by Minister of Interior Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Saud Bin Naif on Wednesday.

  • Saudization of private sector jobs rose to 23.6% in third quarter

    The National Labor Observatory (NLO) has revealed that the Saudization percentage in the private sector during the third quarter of 2021 increased to 23.59%, up by 0.96% compared to the previous quarter, it was reported on Thursday. The number of Saudi workers during the same period went up to around 60,000 employees, added the report.

  • SRC looks to issue debut dollar bonds in first quarter of 2022, CEO says

    Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company (SRC) will look to issue its first U.S. dollar-denominated Islamic bonds in the first quarter of 2022, market conditions allowing, and also plans to issue sukuk domestically before year-end, its chief executive said on Wednesday. SRC, wholly owned by Saudi sovereign wealth fund the Public Investment Fund (PIF), is the kingdom's equivalent of U.S. mortgage finance business Fannie Mae.

  • Gulf Institutions’ Virtual Efforts Transform and Amplify Art Experience

    During the pandemic, for example, the Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA, held a series of online art exhibitions, and the Louvre Paris digitized its entire collection to make it available to the global public. In addition, new, entirely online initiatives and institutions also emerged during this time, including the COVID Art Museum, a digital museum that pitches itself as “the world’s 1st museum for art born during COVID19 quarantine,” and the Virtual Online Museum of Art, which was described in Smithsonian Magazine as “the world’s first entirely virtual art museum.”

  • Saudi Budget Sees First Quarterly Surplus Since 2019 on High Oil

    Saudi Arabia recorded its first quarterly budget surplus in more than two years as higher crude prices boosted the kingdom’s finances. The Gulf nation’s surplus during the third quarter was about 6.7 billion riyals ($1.8 billion), trimming the year-to-date deficit to 5.4 billion riyals, according to a report published by the Ministry of Finance on Sunday. Oil revenue was about 148 billion riyals, an increase of 60% from the same period last year, while non-oil income decreased 22% on an annual basis to 95 billion riyals.

  • Pentagon favors U.S. sale of more than $500 million worth of armed drones to Qatar, but State Department is wary

    The Defense Department is encouraging the sale of more than $500 million worth of armed drones to Qatar, even as the State Department has slow-rolled the Qatari government's request, say three U.S. officials and a congressional aide familiar with the discussions.

  • Iran nuclear talks will restart before the end of November

    Bagheri Kani was meeting Enrique Mora, the EU's External Action Service Deputy Head, in Brussels on Wednesday, to discuss the resumption of talks that were suspended in June after six rounds. Iran had been holding the talks in Vienna with China, Germany, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and indirectly the United States.