MUST-READS

• Aramco Ventures invests in global climate tech startups

  The venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest listed oil major, has invested in two climate tech startups. Aramco Ventures said it had invested in Ucaneo, a German company that is developing a direct air capture (DAC) demonstration plant expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2026. Ucaneo raised €6.75 million ($7.34 million) in seed funding last September and has launched its first industrial pilot, which is designed to capture up to 30 to 50 tonnes of CO₂ annually. Aramco Ventures also led the $30 million series A funding — typically the second stage in capital raising — for the US-based climate technology company Spiritus. Other companies investing included Khosla Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, and TDK Ventures, Spiritus said.

• Saudi Arabia’s Deficit to Widen as Aramco Dividend Normalises

  Aramco announced on 4 March that the performance-related dividend in 1Q25 would be reduced to USD200 million, from USD10.8 billion in 1Q24, while the base dividend rose by 4.2% to USD21.1 billion. It anticipates a total dividend payment of USD85.4 billion over 2025, equivalent to around 7.7% of Fitch-forecast GDP. Around 82% of this should flow directly to the government budget, in line with its equity stake, with a further 16% going to the Public Investment Fund (PIF). We believe this is generally aligned with Fitch’s existing view that total dividend payments will average around USD82 billion a year over 2025-2028. Aramco’s announcement is broadly consistent with our projection in January that the budget deficit would widen to 3.8% of GDP in 2025 and 3.9% in 2026. This forecast assumed oil prices of USD70/barrel (bbl) in 2025 and USD65/bbl in 2026, and that Aramco’s performance dividend would be substantially reduced, reflecting more limited excess cash flow available for distribution from 2024. Fitch also expects the government to cut capex and associated current spending in 2025.

• Saudi banks to see stronger performance in Q1 2025: Fitch

  Saudi banks are set for a stronger start to 2025, with their asset-quality metrics expected to “remain strong” throughout the year, Fitch Ratings said in its latest report. The agency noted that lower interest rates helped boost Saudi bank’s net interest margins (NIMs) in Q4 2024, supported by strong lending growth. Fitch further stated, “We expect [Saudi banks’ lending growth] to continue outpacing Gulf peers' in 2025.” In Q4 2024, Saudi banks’ combined net income rose to SAR 21.5 billion, from SAR 20 billion in the previous quarter. This was driven by the rapid lending growth and lower cost of risk, “both underpinned by the healthy operating environment,” the agency added. Saudi banks’ total lending, according to Fitch, is estimated to grow by 12% in 2025. “Further interest rate cuts and stronger liquidity conditions should underpin banks’ growth appetite,” it wrote.

• Saudi Arabia Chairs 69th Session of UN Commission on the Status of Women

  The 69th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) began yesterday, chaired by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by its Permanent Representative to the United Nations Abdulaziz Alwasil. The session will continue through March 21, featuring a high-level delegation led by Family Affairs Council Secretary-General Maimoonah Al Khalil. As chair, the Kingdom emphasizes enhancing international cooperation to support women's empowerment and address their challenges. It will also share its experiences and initiatives that have strengthened Saudi women's role as a key driver of national development. Al Khalil emphasized that Saudi Arabia's selection to chair CSW69 demonstrates the significant strides made in empowering Saudi women. She attributed this success to the unwavering support of the Kingdom's leadership, which has facilitated women's continuous achievements across all fields.

• Egypt approves investment promotion agreement with Saudi Arabia

  The Egyptian parliament yesterday approved an agreement on the promotion and protection of mutual investments signed between Egypt and Saudi Arabia last October, Gulf Online reported. According to a statement published by the Federation of Saudi Chambers on its official account on X, the approval by the Egyptian parliament will help create optimal conditions for investment exchange between the two countries. The federation noted that the agreement “will lead to an increase in capital flows and investments between the two countries, provide more job opportunities, and strengthen economic relations.”

• How Mahmoud Khalil became the face of Trump’s crackdown on campus protests

  When protests over the Israel-Hamas war took root on Columbia University’s campus last spring, Mahmoud Khalil became a familiar, outspoken figure in a student movement that soon spread to other U.S. colleges. The international-affairs graduate student was a fixture in and around the protest encampment on Columbia’s Manhattan campus, serving as a spokesperson and negotiator for demonstrators who deplored Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and pressed the Ivy League school to cut financial ties with Israel and companies that supported the war. Now that visibility has helped make him the face of President Donald Trump’s drive to punish what he calls antisemitic and “anti-American” campus protests. In the first publicly known arrest of the crackdown, federal immigration agents took Khalil, a legal U.S. resident married to an American citizen, from his apartment Saturday and held him for potential deportation.

• SIG and Yellow Door Energy partner on 2 MW Saudi Arabian project

  SIG, a European provider of sustainable building products, and UAE-based solar company Yellow Door Energy have launched a 2 MW solar project in Riyadh. Once complete, the installation will become one of Saudi Arabia’s first on-grid industrial solar projects connected directly to a manufacturing plant. The project is under the stewardship of the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones (MODON), ensuring that it is in-line with the country’s MODON Green Initiative to encourage renewable energy rollout in cities. Overall, the solar project is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 1,300 metric tons per annum.

• PwC’s Consulting Ban From Saudi Fund Has Rivals Hunting for Work

  Managers at Deloitte and Ernst & Young have instructed staffers to prepare for more work in the kingdom, according to people familiar with their thinking. Some firms have already been invited to bid for contracts tied to some of the kingdom’s most prestigious and lucrative projects, including Neom and AlUla, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is confidential. The Middle East region generated £1.97 billion ($2.5 billion) in revenue for PwC UK, the corporate entity that includes the region, in the 12 months to June 30. Saudi Arabia is the biggest and fastest-growing market for consulting within the Gulf, making up more than half of the $6 billion in regional revenue, according to the research firm Insights.

• Incredible ambition, but at what cost? Saudi gigaproject budget spirals

  Indeed, it's easy get lost in the deluge of information and rumors, but even the scaled-back version of Neom is insanely ambitious: the first phase of the Line is currently under construction and it will have a length of 2.4 km (1.5 miles), as well as a height of 500 m (1,640 ft). It will feature a mirrored exterior and will serve as home to 200,000 residents. It will also be topped by a rooftop stadium and is slated to be ready by 2030, in time for the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament being held there four years later.

• Saudi Investment Fund pays $3.5bn to capture Pokémon Go

  Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) will pay $3.5bn (£2.7bn) to buy the gaming division of developer Niantic, whose titles include the hit mobile game Pokémon Go. The game involves players walking around in the real world to hunt the collectable creatures, which appear on their phone screens using augmented reality. Despite launching almost a decade ago, Pokémon Go is still amongst the highest-grossing mobile games in the world, with 30 million monthly players. The deal marks the latest step by Saudi Arabia to develop its gaming industry, which it has spent billions of pounds on in recent years. Niantic's other games, such as Monster Hunter Now and Pikmin Bloom, are also included in the acquisition, along with the people employed to make them. They will become part of Scopely Inc - which itself was bought by PIF subsidiary Savvy Games Group for $4.9bn in 2023. Scopely is one of the biggest names in mobile gaming, with its most successful title, Monopoly Go, being downloaded more than 50 million times and generating more than $3bn in revenue.

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