Recent stories from sustg

  • Saudi: strongest passenger growth in a decade as market expands
     

    After several years of sagging performance, Saudi Arabia’s aviation market reported its strongest growth in passenger traffic in more than a decade in 2011, even against the background of the Middle East’s regional social unrest. Despite the Arab Spring uprisings in North Africa and some of the Gulf states, Saudi Arabian passenger traffic boomed in […]

     
  • Seasonality and the Saudi Stock Market
     

    A recently released note by Jadwa Investment discusses the effect that seasonal trends have on the Saudi economy, noting that while all economies have seasonal trends, “for Saudi Arabia these trends are more pronounced than for most other global economies…The slowdown in activity in the third quarter due to the long hot summer is a key driver […]

     
  • The Secret History of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran
     

    A new book on the long confrontation between the US and Iran blames the George W. Bush administration for squandering opportunities to improve relations with Tehran and invading Iraq in 2003 without recognizing that Iran would wind up being the power broker in that country. These criticisms are remarkable given their source: David Crist, author […]

     
  • Jadwa Saudi Chartbook for August 2012: Banking Indicators
     

    Jadwa Investment’s recently released Saudi Charbook for the month of August 2012 found that the Saudi economy remained “robust.” On the subject of banking indicators in Saudi Arabia, Jadwa found that “bank lending to the private sector jumped in June. Monthly growth was the highest since August 2009. In year-on-year terms it was at its peak since […]

     
  • The Saudi Cultural Mission’s New Headquarters
     

    The new SACM headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia provides a modern hub for Saudi Students in the United States, and stands as a symbol of the strong cultural relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Until recently, the future of the iconic Watergate hotel and office complex in Washington DC, which was the site of […]

     
  • Muslims across the world prepare to observe Ramadan
     

    Muslims around the world begin fasting on Friday in observation of Ramadan, the holiest month in Islam when the faithful abstain from eating food or drinking water from sunrise to sunset…. Every year, identifying the start of Ramadan is like a waiting game; Islamic scholars must see the new crescent moon in the night skies […]

     
  • Moving forward with nationalisation in Saudi Arabia
     

    “Nitaqat represents an effort to introduce more incentives for companies to employ Saudis and in that sense it is an improvement on what went before,” says James Reeve, an economist at the local Samba Financial Group. “The reason you are hearing more complaints is probably because the system is being enforced with greater vigour.” Despite […]

     
  • Saudi public sector’s bank credit rebounds
     

    Bank lending in Saudi Arabia is continuing at a generally brisk pace, the National Commercial Bank said in its “GCC Financial Market Quarterly” released Monday.The report said liquidity conditions supporting this credit expansion remain very benign. However, the growing economic confidence has begun to hit deposit growth somewhat and the annual pace of expansion decelerated […]

     
  • Why Saudi Arabia’s Travel and Tourism Sector Is Ripe for Growth
     

    Saudi Arabia’s travel and tourism sector is poised for rapid growth in the next decade and beyond, and both Saudi and international corporations are looking to cash in on the opportunities ahead. A product of the changing economic and social landscape in Saudi Arabia, the coming tourism boom is likely to contribute to the Kingdom’s […]

     
  • Saudi Mortgage Law Approved – Jadwa Flash Note
     

    Jadwa Investments released a flash note discussing the recently approved mortgage law in Saudi Arabia, which the bank believes “is a very important step in broadening home ownership.” The new mortgage law “will help to tackle one of the most pressing social issues for many in the Kingdom and will generate significant benefits to the economy. However, […]

     

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