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  • Iran-Israel conflict poses an existential risk for Lebanon, unless Biden can intervene

    Iran's failed attack on Israel may have sealed Lebanon's fate. Israel undoubtedly has come out the winner in the latest exchange, having killed several key commanders who are said to have played a role in directing Iran's regional network of Arab militias to help Hamas fight Israel in Gaza and help Hezbollah prepare for a potential Israeli attack.

    Israel suffered no fatalities, few injuries and very little damage in the Iranian barrage of over 300 projectiles aimed at military facilities. The US estimates about 140 of the drones and missiles failed due to malfunctions. US forces downed most of the remaining 160 projectiles, with the UK, France, Jordan and Israel's own Iron Dome antimissile system also involved.

  • Riyadh Gears Up for the 2024 Islamic Development Bank Group’s Annual Meetings and Golden Jubilee Celebration

    The Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB) is set to hold its 2024 Annual Meetings and Golden Jubilee in Riyadh from April 27-30, under the Royal Patronage of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. The 2024 Annual Meetings will be held under the theme of “Cherishing our Past, Charting our Future: Originality, Solidarity and Prosperity”, which marks IsDB’s 50 years of fostering socio-economic development in its member countries.

  • World Bank raises its forecast of Saudi economy growth to 5.9%

    The World Bank raised its forecast for the growth of Saudi economy during the next year, 2025, by about 1.7% to 5.9%, compared to its previous forecast last January of 4.2%.

    The bank reduced its expectations for the growth of Saudi economy during 2024 to 2.5%, compared to its expectations last January of 4.1%, a difference of 1.6%.

  • World Bank sounds alarm on ‘historical reversal’ of development for poorest nations

     Half of the world's 75 poorest countries are experiencing a widening income gap with the wealthiest economies for the first time this century in a historical reversal of development, the World Bank said in a report on Monday.
    The differential between per capita income growth in the poorest countries and the richest has widened over the past five years, according to the report.
    "For the first time, we see there is no convergence. They're getting poorer," Ayhan Kose, deputy chief economist for the World Bank and one of the report's authors, told Reuters.

  • Saudi banks’ foreign assets surge by 22%, reflecting robust international investments

    The foreign assets of Saudi Arabia’s commercial banks surged by 22 percent in February, reaching a total of SR347.63 billion ($92.7 billion), compared to the same month of the previous year. This notable increase, as reported by recent data from the Kingdom’s central bank, also known as SAMA, reflects a significant expansion in the institution’s international holdings and investments. Conversely, Saudi banks witnessed a 38 percent surge in foreign liabilities over the same period, increasing to SR288.22 billion. This rise, which encompasses various financial obligations to banks outside the Kingdom, resulted in the calculation of net foreign assets amounting to SR59.41 billion.

  • Saudi Arabia make up a third of Forbes Middle East’s 30 Most Valuable Banks

    Saudi Arabia is home to a third of Forbes Middle East’s “30 Most Valuable Banks,” with a 25 percent annual rise in the Kingdom’s entities’ accumulative market value. The 10 Saudi entries on the list — the same number as in the 2023 ranking —have a combined weighting of $279.5 billion, according to a statement.

    Al Rajhi Bank was placed top, having seen its market value grow by $21.7 billion over the last 12 months to hit $96.6 billion.

  • Alrajhi leads Middle East’s 30 Most Valuable Banks 2024

    Established in 1957, alrajhi bank served more than 15.8 million active customers through 545 branches, including the branches outside Saudi Arabia, as of December 2023. It employs 20,878 people. In April 2023, the bank issued its first U.S.-dollar sukuk, a $1 billion five-year sustainable sukuk. The bank recorded total assets worth $215.5 billion as of December 2023, with a net profit of $4.4 billion. In March 2023, PIF’s Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company signed a deal with alrajhi bank to refinance more than $1.3 billion in a real estate financing portfolio. In March 2024, alrajhi bank joined the Buna platform to enhance its payment solutions.

  • Saudi Arabia’s Zaabal Castle area nears completion in major urban revitalization effort

    Jouf municipality has announced that a project to develop the area surrounding Zaabal Castle is 95 percent complete, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday. The development is part of an initiative to combat urban blight in Saudi cities, according to the SPA report. The mayor of Jouf region, Atef bin Mohammed Al-Shara’an, said the project will not only contribute to the growth of its tourism sector, but also the preservation of archaeological landmarks while integrating the urban and heritage identity of the region.

  • Solar Spider Targets Saudi Arabia Banks via New Malware

    The sophisticated threat group behind a complex JavaScript remote access Trojan (RAT) known as JSOutProx has released a new version of the malware to target organizations in the Middle East. Cybersecurity services firm Resecurity analyzed technical details of multiple incidents involving the JSOutProx malware targeting financial customers and delivering either a fake SWIFT payment notification if targeting an enterprise, or a MoneyGram template when targeting private citizens, the company wrote in a report published this week. The threat group has targeted government organizations in India and Taiwan, as well as financial organizations in the Philippines, Laos, Singapore, Malaysia, India — and now Saudi Arabia.

  • Gaza infrastructure damages estimated at $18.5bn in UN-World Bank report

    The cost of damage to critical infrastructure in the first four months of Israel’s continuing war on Gaza is estimated at about $18.5bn, a new report by the World Bank and the United Nations has found. The report estimated that the damage was equivalent to 97 percent of the combined GDP of the occupied West Bank and Gaza in 2022.