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  • Opening the TASI: What You Need to Know
     

    Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter and the Middle East’s biggest economy, is about to complete a gradual process to open its stock market, known as the Tadawul or TASI, directly to international investors for the first time.  The initial step toward this action was to give other GCC countries the right to invest […]

     
  • Seven years of prosperity and development
     

    Saudi Arabia will mark the seventh anniversary of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s accession to the Saudi throne on May 17 with a variety of programs highlighting the remarkable progress achieved by the Kingdom in education, health, industry, agriculture and other sectors under his wise leadership. King Abdullah’s announcement at the Shoura […]

     
  • Saudi Perspective on the Middle East: Obaid
     

    In this SUSRIS exclusive presentation, the “Saudi Perspective on the Middle East: The View from Riyadh” assessment provides: the background and context for Saudi diplomacy — assets and characteristics; economic and energy data; sources of regional instability; the “New Gulf Union”; profile of Gulf defense configurations; the Kingdom’s role in regional stabilization and its political and […]

     
  • Jadwa: Inflation Report, April 2012
     

    Year-on-year inflation dipped to 5.3 percent in April from 5.4 percent in March. Lower food price inflation was the main reason for the decline. Rental inflation picked up.

     
  • Not a Drop to Drink: The Global Water Crisis
     

    In the next twenty years, global demand for fresh water will vastly outstrip reliable supply in many parts of the world. Thanks to population growth and agricultural intensification, humanity is drawing more heavily than ever on shared river basins and underground aquifers. Meanwhile, global warming is projected to exacerbate shortages in already water-stressed regions, even […]

     
  • Petchem projects lead Saudi industrialization drive
     

    The Saudi project market continues to thrive. Latest data from Meed put the value of projects “planned or underway” at $745 billion in mid-April, around 13 percent higher than a year earlier. These figures need to be treated with some caution: The topline number is some 30 percent larger than the nominal size of the […]

     
  • Journey of a lifetime
     

    To say that I was excited to be in the presence of such history would be an understatement. I had been looking forward to this trip for months and was absolutely beside myself. My purpose was to travel with my mother to Saudi Arabia to perform the Umrah, a mini version of the annual Hajj […]

     
  • Al-Qaida’s wretched utopia and the battle for hearts and minds
     

    Driving east out of Aden, we were just a few hundred metres past the last army checkpoint when we saw the black al-Qaida flag. It flew from the top of a concrete building that had been part-demolished by shelling. From here into the interior, all signs of control by the government of Yemen disappeared. This […]

     
  • Positive Steps: Interview with Saudi Minister of Finance Al Assaf
     

    The industrial sector is the real excitement for us, which is growing at a rate of 15 per­cent, which is not a joke. The other one is service sector, like the financial services or the restaurant and hotels or other services in the economy. A particular sector that we are excited about is the mineral […]

     
  • “Milestone” oil manipulation case unsettles traders
     

    U.S. regulators’ $14 million settlement with high-frequency trading firm Optiver over oil price manipulation in 2007 is a “milestone” victory in their toughening stance on market malfeasance which is being closely watched by traders. In its first major case against an algorithmic trader, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said late on Thursday that a court […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Asia’s first-ever Saudi Arabia ETF to be listed in Hong Kong

    Paul Chan, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, said on Sunday that Asia's first-ever Saudi Arabia exchange-traded fund (ETF) will be listed in Hong Kong on Nov. 29. Chan said in his blog that investors will be able to trade the constituent stocks of the Saudi stock market directly in the Hong Kong market through the ETF in Hong Kong dollar or renminbi (RMB), including oil company Saudi Aramco. This ETF has the largest assets of its kind in the world.

  • Morocco Becomes Leading Blueberry Supplier to Saudi Arabia

    Morocco has become the leading supplier of blueberries to Saudi Arabia, outperforming several other markets including Chile, Peru, and South Africa.

    Data from agriculture-focused news outlet East Fruit said that Morocco has exported 480 tonnes of fresh blueberries to Saudi Arabia in the 2022/2023 market year. Morocco has doubled the number of its blueberry exports to the Gulf country, compared to less than 200 tonnes exported last year.

  • Saudi authorities arrest over 10k residency violators

    Saudi authorities arrested 17,463 people in one week for breaching residency, work and border security regulations, according to an official report. A total of 10,856 people were arrested for violations of residency laws, while 3,934 were held over illegal border crossing attempts and a further 2,673 for labor-related issues, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday. The report showed that among the 773 people arrested for trying to enter the Kingdom illegally, 44 percent were Yemeni, 45 percent Ethiopian, and 11 percent were of other nationalities.

  • Overhauling Business Frameworks: An Insight Into Saudi Arabia’s New Companies Law

    In the ever-evolving landscape of Saudi Arabian business regulations, the Saudi Arabia Companies Law to improve the legal framework for businesses stands out as a pivotal milestone. Enacted in 2015, this law is more than a set of amendments; it's a commitment to fostering a business environment that is not only flexible but also deeply rooted in modern corporate governance principles.  

  • Saudi Arabia unveils lineup for 5th Winter at Tantora

    As winter approaches, anticipation is building for the fifth Winter at Tantora, a month-long cultural extravaganza presented by AlUla Moments. Running from Dec. 21 to Jan. 27, the festival has become the region’s premier event, blending culture, art, and music against the backdrop of AlUla’s stunning desert landscapes.

  • Ancient 20-inch-long hand ax discovered in Saudi Arabia may be world’s largest

    Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia have discovered what may be the world's largest prehistoric hand ax. The stone tool measures 20.2 inches (51.3 centimeters) long and, despite its size, is easily held with two hands, according to a statement. An international team of researchers found the basalt hand ax on the Qurh Plain, just south of AlUla, a region in northwest Saudi Arabia. Both of the hand ax's sides have been sharpened, suggesting that it could have been employed for cutting or chopping. However, it's still unclear how the stone tool was used and which species, for instance Homo erectus or Homo sapiens, crafted it.

  • Economic Diversification Efforts Paying Off in GCC Region but More Reforms Needed

    The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region is estimated to grow by 1% in 2023 before picking up again to 3.6 and 3.7 % in 2024 and 2025, respectively, according to the recently published World Bank Gulf Economic Update (GEU) report. The weaker performance this year is driven primarily by lower oil sector activities, which is expected to contract by 3.9%, to reflect OPEC+ successive production cuts and the global economic slowdown. However, the reduction in oil sector activities will be compensated for by the non-oil sectors, which are expected to grow by 3.9 % in 2023 and 3.4 % in the medium term supported by sustained private consumption, strategic fixed investments, and accommodative fiscal policy.

  • World Bank: Saudi Arabia’s Non-Oil Sectors Continue to Grow, Women’s Participation in Workforce Doubles

    The World Bank (WB) report titled "Structural Reforms and Shifting Social Norms to Increase Women's Labor Force Participation" revealed the latest economic developments in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The report indicates that the efforts towards economic diversification in the region have started to show positive results, but there is still a need for further reforms. According to the report, the number of workers in the Saudi private sector increased by approximately 153,300 by the end of the first half of 2023 compared to the end of the first half of 2022, with the total number of workers being around 2.3 million. The report also highlights that the participation of Saudi women in the workforce has doubled within six years, rising from 17.4% in early 2017 to 35.3% in the second quarter of 2023.

  • GCC States and the War on Gaza: Positions, Perceptions, and Interests

    There is not, and may never have truly been, a single ‘Gulf-wide’ position on Israel (or Palestine for that matter). Instead, the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states straddle a spectrum of positions toward Israel from no ties (Kuwait) to pragmatic coexistence (Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia) to full normalization (Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates). Initial statements by Gulf governments in response to the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel echoed these positions, as the UAE and Bahrain condemned Hamas for the eruption in violence while the other four states, including Saudi Arabia, placed greater focus on the Israeli occupation as a contributory factor.

  • White House grapples with internal divisions on Israel-Gaza

    The previously unreported meeting of officials underscores how Biden’s handling of what is arguably the biggest foreign policy crisis of his presidency is dividing a White House that has prided itself on running a disciplined and united operation. The Israel-Gaza war has roiled the administration more than any other issue in Biden’s first three years in office, according to numerous aides and allies inside and outside the White House, as staffers agonize over their positions on highly emotional issues.