MUST-READS

• Surprising, Unsettling, Surreal: Roaming Through Saudi Arabia

  All across Saudi Arabia, I’d seen countless projects being built, from simple museums to high-end resorts. These were the early fruits of an $800 billion investment in the travel sector, itself part of a much larger effort, Vision 2030, to remake the kingdom and reduce its economic dependence on oil.

  But I’d begun to see the building projects as something else, too: the striving of a country — long shrouded to most Westerners — to be seen, reconsidered, accepted. And with its doors suddenly flung open and the pandemic behind us, visitors like me were finally beginning to witness this new Saudi Arabia

• Emirates boss Tim Clark slams Heathrow as a ‘Second World War’ airport with ‘a dismal experience’

  He said “travelling from Terminal 3 is a dismal experience” and the building needs reconfiguring to improve the customer journey. “I was at Heathrow the other day and walking out of our lounge the ceiling height is awful. It looks like a utilitarian structure, post-Second World War. It is just not good enough,” Sir Tim said. He wants Terminal 3 to be redesigned, with the plaza size reduced to allow more room for security and check-in, the report said.

• Scars of Conflict Are Deeper and Longer Lasting in Middle East and Central Asia

  Economies across the Middle East and Central Asia are more affected by conflicts—even a decade after a severe conflict, their income per capita remains about 10 percent lower. The idea that violent conflict reduces economic output is uncontroversial. However, the repercussions are notably harsher and longer lasting in these regions than in most others, as we show in a chapter of our latest Regional Economic Outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia.

• Saudi’s National Building awarded $93.3 million Contract for Residential Units in Riyadh

  National Building and Marketing Co. (NBM), Saudi Arabia announces the signing of a contract worth SAR 350 million for constructing villas and residential apartments (Granada Riyadh Project) with Al-Fayzia Real Estate Development Co. As part of the contract, the company will carry out the infrastructure and superstructure works, construct, finish, implement and supply all project building materials, administrative follow-up and implementation of all related services until the project is ready for investment.

• Saudi new mortgage approvals rebound

  Yet last year’s total number of new mortgage approvals – 102,583 – was less than half the 2020 peak of 225,073 and the lowest since 2018, data from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (Sama) shows, as soaring interest rates deterred borrowers. Now, though, there are signs of increasing demand. In March and April combined, 17,405 new residential mortgages worth an aggregate SAR12.9 billion ($3.5 billion) were sold in the kingdom, up 18 and 14 percent respectively on the figures for the prior-year period.

• Jordan makes biggest drugs bust in years at Saudi border
  Jordan has foiled two plots to smuggle millions of captagon pills through a border post to Saudi Arabia, the biggest seizure in years of drugs bound for lucrative Gulf markets from what Jordanian security officials say are Syria-based gangs with ties to Iran.
  The haul was discovered hidden in a shipment of construction vehicles at the Omari crossing in Jordan's eastern desert before it was due to enter Saudi Arabia, officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

• 2023-24 Roshn Saudi League – in record-breaking numbers

  The recently concluded 2023-24 Roshn Saudi League was one for the history books, with a slew of records tumbling and new benchmarks set. Al Hilal were rampant title winners, Cristiano Ronaldo showed once more why for many he is considered the greatest of all time, while the rapidly growing league encouraged more fans to attend in person and, at the same time, reached a bigger worldwide audience than ever before.

• What will it take to make the MENA region a renewable energy powerhouse?

  At a time of rapid growth in renewable energies such as solar and wind, it would be easy to write off the region (as some are doing) as a waning power, both in terms of energy and geopolitics. After all, how good can the outlook be for petrostates in a world focused on moving to net-zero emissions? In our view, the opposite is true: the region is well placed to become not just a major source of renewable energy, but also a central and indispensable player in the global energy transition, uniquely able to balance supply and demand for all types of energy, both hydrocarbons, and renewables.

• One year later, why haven’t the PGA Tour and Saudis completed a deal?

  One year later, the professional golf world is still bitterly divided. Television ratings many weeks are down. There has been no merger and no partnership. The two tours continue to operate independently. The best players on the planet get together just four times a year. And there’s been no infusion of Saudi oil money to help reshape or bolster the PGA Tour.

• Commentary: Are Iran and Bahrain about to restore diplomatic relations?

  In this discussion about improving ties with neighboring nations, the Bahraini king was not only referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries or Iraq, but also openly referring to his country’s eastern neighbor, the Islamic Republic of Iran. Relations with Iran have been strained in recent years, with security and political concerns causing a diplomatic rift. King Hamad told President Putin on May 23: “We have good relations with all countries. Iran is the only one with which we will work to resolve issues and, in fact, there are no significant problems to mention.” The ruler of Bahrain expressed his wish for “progress in development, trade and overall quality of life.”

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