MUST-READS

• COVID-19 lockdown highlights policies to reduce pollution in Saudi Arabia

  At the peak of the pandemic, Saudi Arabia paid considerable attention to containing the spread of COVID-19 and implementing policies that could mitigate the looming recession. In March 2020, the Saudi government instituted a national lockdown for three months to prevent the proliferation of the virus. These extraordinary circumstances provide the perfect experiment for policymakers and researchers to investigate whether daily human activities significantly affect pollution levels in an oil-exporting country like Saudi Arabia. Understanding the environmental cost of mobility is imperative to minimize this cost as Riyadh continues to develop as part of its Vision 2030 plan.

• Yemeni workers in Saudi face the prospect of returning home

  A Saudi analyst told Reuters the move aimed to free up jobs for citizens in the south as part of efforts to tackle Saudi unemployment of 11.7%. Saudi hosts 2 million Yemeni workers, according to the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies.

• Saudi SMEs get 3-year exemption from commerce fees

  According to the ministry of commerce, exemption will be granted to those wishing to issue a new trade register from the financial equivalent for 3-years and reduction for subsequent years, according to the Ministry of Commerce Fees will start in the fourth and fifth year, but at a reduced rate of SR500 ($133) for entrepreneurs and SR200 for entrepreneurs with a capital of less than SR375,000 and whose employees do not exceed 5.

• Saudi Arabia’s ‘solutions by stc’ goes public; offers 20 percent share capital

  The company has been operating in Saudi Arabia for over 25 years, and has achieved a 13 percent market-leading share of the Kingdom’s business-to-business information technology services market.

• Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports dropped in H1 by 20%

  The Kingdom’s crude oil exports averaged 5.776 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first half of 2021, that is 19.8 percent less than 7.2 million bpd in the same period a year ago and 5.8 percent less than 6.129 million bpd in second half of 2020, according to JODI data.

• Saudi ministry sending students on cultural scholarships

  It is considered the first program of its kind in the Kingdom and covers the tuition fees and all study costs of the participating students. The students’ specializations cover literature, languages and linguistics, fashion design, design, filmmaking, visual arts, archeology, theater, culinary arts, libraries, museums, architecture, and music. More than half of those selected, 59 percent, are studying for a master’s degree while the rest of the cohort are undergraduates.

• Over 900 companies join ‘Made in Saudi’ program with more than 2,000 products

  The program, which was launched under the auspices of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman on March 28, aims to support national products and services at the local and global levels.

• Rare-breed falcon sold for record-breaking $93,000 at Saudi auction

  On day eight of the International Falcon Breeders Auction, organized by the Saudi Falcons Club, bidding for the Super White Gyrfalcon farkh (under a year old) from the Canada-based Jim Wilson Falcons opened at $66,676 and closed at $93,347.

• Saudi Arabia allocates land plots for 600 megawatt solar plants

  The Saudi Ministry of Energy is building two renewable energy plants on two land plots with a total area of 12 million square meters, as part of the Kingdom’s plan to generate 50 percent of its energy from renewables, the Saudi Press Agency has reported. The plants will have a capacity of 600 megawatts and will be implemented in the Third Industrial City in Jeddah and the Industrial City in Rabigh, through the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones MODON. The Ministry of Energy is working to diversify the energy mix to produce electricity, by increasing the share of gas and renewable energy sources in it, and is displacing liquid fuel and replacing it with natural gas.

• Number of new COVID-19 cases in Saudi Arabia dips below 500-mark

  New COVID-19 cases dipped below the 500-mark for the first time after staying below the 700-mark for six days on Thursday, with 499 new infections recorded over the past 24 hours.

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