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  • Saudi Arabia enlists BlackRock to improve MBS market: Report

    According to data available on Argaam, the Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co. (SRC) signed an agreement with BlackRock to develop the real estate finance sector, expand the local and international investor base, and ensure market stability and diverse financing options.

  • Rafael Nadal gives brutally honest verdict on Saudi Arabia criticism and sportswashing claims

    “What happens is that there comes a certain moment when you can be in one place or another, based on your opinion. I respect all opinions, as long as mine are also respected,” Nadal began. “Do they pay me to come here? Yes. But we must not lose perspective. You come here and what do you think? Are you doing good or bad? Because the only problem in the end is that you get paid for it. “Because, really, by coming here, you help the country. And those who speak in such a drastic way against the country, very well. “So, what do you want? For them to continue being bad, for them to continue keeping the country locked up, with more inequality? There is only one reality. “In the end, by coming here, we make events happen and tourists come, something that didn’t happen four or five years ago.

  • Saudi Arabia Taps BlackRock to Build Mortgage-Backed Securities Market

    The country hopes developing a secondary market for mortgages would allow banks to offer borrowers lower interest rates and improve the cost of home ownership, BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said at a conference in Johannesburg. In August, BlackRock signed an agreement with Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company — the state-owned equivalent of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the US — to develop the real estate finance market in the kingdom. “Spreads are much wider than if there was a securitization market,” Fink said. “It would be much narrower and the homeowners would benefit, so the cost of home ownership would go down.”

  • The World’s Largest Building Is Coming to Saudi Arabia

    Located in northwest Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the forthcoming Mukaab skyscraper is just one component of a 19-square-kilometer project spearheaded by New Murabba and the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), according to the developers. Though far from the tallest building at a projected 1,312 feet upon completion, the structure is expected to handily take the title of the world’s largest by volume.

  • Meet Ali from Saudi Arabia, a Nursing Student at the University of South Carolina

    Ali from Saudi Arabia has been passionate about pursuing a career in nursing since middle school. He completed one year of his undergraduate education in Australia, then transferred through the International Accelerator Program (IAP) to the University of South Carolina (USC) to explore opportunities in the US.“The total nursing program is two years lower division [pre-nursing] and two years upper division,” Ali said. Lower division students take core general education classes including English, history, math, and basic sciences. The curriculum also includes courses in nursing that focus on health and wellness, the history of nursing, pathophysiology, and more. Once students complete the prescribed number of lower division courses, they can then apply to the upper division level.

  • Construction starts on world’s largest building in Saudi Arabia

    Construction has begun on the 400-metre-high, cube-shaped Mukaab supertall skyscraper in Riyadh designed by AtkinsRéalis, which will be the world's largest building when it completes. Designed as the centrepiece of the 19-square-kilometre New Murabba development in northwest Riyadh, Mukaab is now officially under construction with excavations underway, according to its development company. The developer, named New Murabba Development Company and funded by Saudi Arabia's central Public Investment Fund (PIF), said groundworks at the site are now 86 per cent complete.

  • Is Saudi Arabia a Brics member or not? A curious case of invitation, acceptance and a delay

    The original Brics members —Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa— approved the joining of Saudi Arabia and four other nations at the Brics Summit 2023 in South Africa. The Saudi membership was set to start in February 2024 but the monarchy said at the last minute that it is not yet joining the group." Saudi Arabia has not yet responded to the invitation to join BRICS. It is still under consideration,” the Saudi official source said in a statement to Reuters.

  • Saudi Arabia offers 7 mineral exploration licenses

    Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources announced today, Oct. 22, opening bidding to local and international investors for seven new mineral exploration licenses in Makkah and Riyadh on an area of nearly 1,070 km2, the state-owned SPA reported. The offered exploration sites include quality mineral resources and precious metals, including base metals, such as gold, copper, zinc, lead and silver across several sites. Four sites are situated in Makkah.

  • Saudi Arabia ‘in talks’ to invest in Qatar’s BeIN Sports

    Saudi Arabia has held talks to acquire Qatari sports broadcaster BeIN Sports, according to The Telegraph. The newspaper reports that negotiations began immediately after the Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) takeover of Premier League club Newcastle United in October 2021, and have continued since then. BeIN is the second sports broadcaster to be linked with Saudi investment this month, with the PIF denying it was in talks to take a stake with streaming service DAZN.

  • IMF lowers Saudi Arabia’s 2024 growth forecast to 1.5%

    The International Monetary Fund further lowered its GDP growth forecast for Saudi Arabia for 2024 to 1.5% and estimated growth to accelerate to 4.6% next year in its latest World Economic Outlook Report released on Tuesday. In July, the IMF lowered its GDP projections for Saudi Arabia's 2024 GDP by nearly a percentage point from its April estimates to 1.7%. Growth for the Middle East and Central Asia region is forecast at 2.4% in 2024, and projected to increase to 3.9% next year as temporary disruptions to oil production and shipping are expected to fade away, the IMF said.