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  • Consulting Industry Booms in the UAE, Saudi Arabia: Video

    The difficult road to partnerships and promotions at some of the world’s largest consulting firms can run through the Middle East these days. And for McKinsey and BCG, the region ranks among the strongest globally based on revenue and profitability. Bloomberg News' Abeer Abu Omar discusses the industry's playbook with Jennifer Zabasajja on Horizons Middle East & Africa.

  • Saudi Arabia: First week of Riyadh Season welcomes two million visitors

    The first week of Riyadh Season 2024 drew in an impressive two million visitors, Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA) announced on Sunday. With an exciting lineup of events and attractions, Riyadh Season 2024 is poised to solidify the Saudi capital’s status as a global entertainment destination, the Chairman of the GEA Turki AlAlshikh said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

  • Temasek, Saudi Arabia’s PIF rated highest for credit metrics and liquidity by Moody’s

    emasek Holdings and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) have the strongest intrinsic credit quality, among the 11 government-owned investment holding companies (IHCs) it rated, said Moody’s Ratings in an Oct 17 report. The rating agency explained that while credit quality of the rated government-owned IHC is generally closely aligned with that of its government, intrinsic credit quality generally varies, as it is a reflection of the IHC’s standalone credit strength, excluding extraordinary government support.

  • Build details showcase incredible scale of Saudi Arabia’s Line megacity

    To help make all this happen, Saudi Arabian authorities have now commissioned a new SAR 700-million (almost US$190-million) concrete multi-plant factory that will be capable of producing up to 20,000 cubic meters (roughly 700,000 cubic ft) of concrete per day, most of which will be for the Line, with the remainder going to other Neom projects. There are also over 100,000 workers busy removing huge amounts of earth 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to make space for its massive foundations.

  • As Saudi Arabia looks to diversify economy, Hollywood takes notice

    While Hollywood is interested in how the Saudis can fund projects, the Saudis see it the opposite way, according to some dealmakers. The country’s intent, they say, is to create a studio and production infrastructure at home and use Hollywood talent to bolster it. The focal point of that has been Neom, the futuristic city being built on the coast of the Red Sea. Neom already has six sound stages — with another four in the works — and the area boasts a cash rebate of up to 40% for qualifying projects.

  • Egypt-Saudi Arabia Electricity Interconnection to be Complete in 2025

    The first phase of the Egypt-Saudi Arabia electricity interconnection project will be operational by June 2025, according to Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly. Comprising 1,200 km of overhead transmission lines, the project aims to facilitate the exchange of up to 3 GW of electricity upon completion. The transmission line will connect Saudi Arabia’s 380 kV Madinah East and 380 kV Tabuk converter stations with Egypt’s 500 kV Badr station. “The project will have a capacity of 1.5 GW and facilitate energy exchange between both countries,” Madbouly stated. “It will be a major milestone, with a total capacity of 3 GW which will surpass the total regional energy capacity of Gulf Cooperation Council countries.”

  • Saudi Arabia’s first arrivals duty-free stores open at King Khalid International Airport

    Hailing the inauguration of arrivals duty-free at King Khalid Airport on LinkedIn, Riyadh Airports Chief Commercial Officer Abdulaziz Al-Askaer said: “The duty-free shops have been launched in the arrivals area in a first of its kind in the Kingdom’s outlets and it represents a major achievement that reflects our continuous commitment to improving the experience of our dear passengers. “Visitors to the Kingdom will be able to shop in the store and get a wide variety of products and gifts at competitive prices of high quality.”

  • Officials and envoys welcome Saudi Arabia’s new Global Harmony Initiative

    Saudi authorities publicly unveiled their new Global Harmony Initiative on Wednesday night during an official launch event in Riyadh. The aim of the initiative, announced earlier this week, is to celebrate and showcase the diverse range of nationalities and cultures among residents of the Kingdom by exploring their professional and family lives, social and recreational activities, contributions to the economy, success stories and cultural integration into Saudi society, organizers said.

  • Saudi Arabia’s RHQ Programme continues to gain momentum

    In 2024, the RHQ mandate is now in full effect. As of 1 January, MNCs without an RHQ in Saudi Arabia are no longer eligible to bid in government tenders above SAR1 million (USD266,000). Over 350 MNCs have obtained RHQ licences, with most choosing Riyadh as their base of operations. The capital city is already an economic business hub and is fast becoming a regional headquarters destination for international companies, with big names like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and PepsiCo already having a presence there.

  • Lucid’s boss on sputtering EV market, Elon, and doing business in Saudi Arabia

    I didn’t go out and try to seek Saudi money specifically. But I needed billions of dollars. And to get that, we needed a proof point, because there was a whole phalanx of EV startups just trying to ride the coattails of Tesla’s market cap. So we partnered with McLaren and we developed the most advanced electric motorsport battery pack. And guess what happened? Saudi Arabia said we’d like to host a Grand Prix event for electric motorsport. That Saudi race was the first race where our battery pack featured and that was the proof point for the Saudis. So these talks were happening with His Excellency, Yasir [Al-Rumayyan], in the summer of 2018. He’s quite an accomplished racing driver, and I decided that none of my test drivers were driving our cars fast enough to impress. So I took him out. I think I scared the devil out of him, flat out around the block. And they were in.