MUST-READS

• Saudi Arabia’s housing supply likely to hit 3.9M units by 2028: Knight Frank

  The residential supply across Saudi Arabia’s five major markets totals 3.5 million units, according to a report by Knight Frank. "Based on our analysis, this figure is projected to reach nearly 3.9 million units by the end of 2028, reflecting the government’s ongoing efforts to enhance housing availability," it noted. To achieve this, government initiatives to increase housing supply within the low to mid-market segments, as well as programs such as “Wafi” and “Sakani”, have been pivotal in boosting home ownership among Saudi nationals. In fact, the Saudi homeownership rate reached 63.7% at the end of 2023. During 2024, the total number of real estate transactions across all asset classes in Saudi Arabia surged by 37% to just over 236,690 deals, while the total value of all deals grew by 27% to SAR 267.8 billion.

• Saudi Arabia allocates feedstock for new petchem complexes in Jubail

  Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy has allocated feedstock necessary for establishing industrial complexes by National Industrialization Company (Tasnee) and Sahara International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem)  in Jubail Industrial City. Tasnee) received approval from the ministry to allocate feedstock (ethane, propane and butane) on Wednesday. The complex includes a thermal cracking unit for ethylene production with high world-scale capacity, the company said in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange. The project will have a production capacity of nearly 3.3 million metric tonnes of petrochemical products, including high and linear low-density polyethylene and methyl tert-butyl ether (HDPE. LLDPE, MTBE).

• Saudi Arabia expands scope of Saudi Qualification Verification Program

  On 28 January 2025, the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development announced the full expansion of the Professional Verification service under the Professional Accreditation program. The program now applies to all industries and a broader range of countries. The scope of the Professional Accreditation program has now been expanded to 1,007 professions encompassing all industries, moving beyond its previous focus on sectors such as aviation, construction, health care, media and tourism. Additionally, the MHRSD's recent announcement confirms that the target of 160 countries has been met.

• Max Bergmann: Does Europe Matter in the Middle East?

  The larger question is though, can Europe develop a more cohesive foreign policy as essentially the European Union toward the Middle East? Because when you talk about these individual countries, they are of declining power on the world stage—the United Kingdom and France in particular. Europe collectively is 450 million people, an economy the size of the United States and China. The question is, can it really assert itself in the Middle East or have a presence in the Middle East that reflects its potential power?

• Lulu to retail popular Saudi brand Milaf Cola

  An iconic Saudi F&B brand, Milaf Cola, will now be available at LuLu outlets in the GCC – and with the possibility of taking it to India as well. This comes after the Abu Dhabi headquartered hypermarket operator Lulu signed a deal with Al Madina Heritage, part of the Saudi wealth fund PIF’s holdings. "Sourcing and selling world-class products globally has always been our key strength,” said Yusuffali M. A, Chairman of Lulu Group. With our sourcing network spanning 23 countries, we are further strengthening our product portfolio by signing various MoUs with top suppliers.” What makes Milaf carve a different niche in an intensely fought over cola market is its use of carbonated date-sweetened formula. This replaces the traditional sugars or sweeteners with date extracts.

• Wa’ed Ventures, Saudi Aramco’s venture arm, invests in Ori

  Ori, the UK’s leading provider of cloud infrastructure for AI, has secured a key strategic investment from Wa’ed Ventures, Saudi Aramco’s venture capital arm, as it eyes up explosive growth in the Middle East market over the coming 12 months. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed. The announcement comes hot on the heels of news that Ori was one of the UK’s first AI infrastructure companies to deploy Nvidia’s H200 chips as the startup positions itself as the go-to AI infrastructure provider of choice in the UK, Middle East, and globally. Ori is a UK-based startup that enables large-scale AI model training, inference, and deployment for large corporates, enterprises, and fast-growth AI scaleups through its cloud platform. Since launch in 2019, the business has rapidly scaled to a presence in over 20 locations, predominantly across North America and Europe.

• Saudi Wealth Fund Blocks PwC From Advisory Work for One Year

  Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund has temporarily banned PwC from advisory and consulting services contracts, people familiar with matter said, halting the firm’s progress in one of the world’s most lucrative markets. Executives at the $925 billion Public Investment Fund and its more than 100 subsidiaries have been told to stop handing out consulting projects to PwC until February 2026, the people said, declining to be identified as the information is confidential. The firm’s auditing projects will not be affected, they said. The PIF did not explain reasons behind the move in messages sent to its portfolio companies. Representatives for the fund declined to comment, while a spokesperson for PwC didn’t respond to requests for comment. The PIF’s decision comes two years after PwC received a license to open its regional headquarters in the kingdom, where it employs more than 2,000 people across Riyadh, Jeddah, AlUla, Al Khobar and Dhahran. In the Middle East, the company operates from more than 20 locations. PwC’s non-audit services span areas like mergers and acquisitions and tax advisory, alongside its strategy and consulting work. For its most recent fiscal year, the Middle East was the fastest-growing geography within PwC UK, the corporate entity that includes the region.

• Saudi Housing Demand Under Pressure: Video

  Faisal Durrani, Partner & Head of MENA Research at Knight Frank speaks with Bloomberg TV’s Joumanna Bercetche on the Horizons Middle East and Africa show about first-time home buyer demand in Saudi Arabia and his outlook for the property market in the kingdom.

• Al-Ittihad and CUE Redefine Fan Engagement with Saudi Arabia’s First CUE Light Show

  Based in Nashville, Tennessee, CUE partners with major organizations across the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB, and expanded to Europe in 2022, working with renowned clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Kansas City Chiefs. Partnering with a club of Al-Ittihad’s stature marks a significant milestone for CUE’s growing presence in the Middle East. One of the night’s standout moments was Saudi Arabia’s first-ever CUE-powered smartphone light show, sponsored by ROSHN Group. On the first day of promoting the event, over 8,000 fans downloaded the app by scanning a QR code. By the end of the match, more than 33,000 fans had downloaded it. The synchronized phone lights transformed the stadium into an immersive visual experience, ranking this activation among CUE’s largest fan-driven light shows.

• Saudi Crown Prince congratulates Lebanese PM on forming new government

  Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman congratulated Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on forming a new government, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Thursday. MBS sent a cable to Salam, expressing “sincere congratulations and wishing [Salam] goodluck and success and for the brotherly people of Lebanon further progress. ”The Crown Prince’s cable to the prime minister comes after the newly formed Lebanese government won the lawmakers’ vote of confidence on Wednesday. Salam was serving as president of the International Court of Justice before his designation as prime minister in January. It came after the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, was elected as a president.

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