“The program to codify legal practices is welcome and will strengthen the legal infrastructure for business. The PPP/asset sales program has considerable scope to increase the efficiency of capital allocation and service provision for the government. The growing role of digitalization and the move to e-government, e-commerce, and digital banking have the potential to boost productivity given the young and tech-savvy population. Ongoing initiatives to support SMEs and entrepreneurs are welcome. The fintech sector is showing promise in delivering innovative financial solutions that benefit SMEs and others who are less well-served by banks.”

–Item #11 of the 15-point Concluding Statement of the 2021 IMF’s annual consultation meetings in Saudi Arabia. [IMF]

“The Saudi Arabia PMI rebounded in April to indicate a strengthening of growth across the non-oil economy. New orders picked up at the quickest rate for three months as business conditions continued to recover from COVID-19.”

-David Owen, Economist at IHS Markit. Business activity in Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector hit a three-month high in April and employment grew for the first time in five months, a survey showed on Tuesday. [Reuters]

“SAGO has 3.3 million tons of grain-storage space… Saudi Arabia vies with China as the biggest importer of barley, buying about 6.9 million tons annually. It uses the grain mostly to feed sheep, camels and goats. It also ships in around 3 million tons a year of wheat.”

-Arab News, reporting on State-owned Saudi Arabia Grains Organization, which just completed the sale of all its flour mills for about $1.5 billion, is seeking bids for its silos as it continues to try to privatize assets. [Arab News]

“Thousands of monumental structures built from walls of rock in Saudi Arabia are older than Egypt’s pyramids and the ancient stone circles of Britain, researchers say – making them perhaps the earliest ritual landscape ever identified.”

–Tom Metcalfe, journalist, NBC. A study published Thursday in the journal Antiquity shows that the mysterious structures dotted around the desert in northwestern Saudi Arabia – called “mustatils” from the Arabic word for “rectangle” – are about 7,000 years old. That’s much older than expected, and about 2,000 years older than either Stonehenge in England or the oldest Egyptian pyramid. [NBCNews]

“Gas flaring satellite data from 2020 reveals that Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Algeria, Venezuela and Nigeria remain the top seven gas flaring countries for nine years running, since the first satellite was launched in 2012. These seven countries produce 40% of the world’s oil each year, but account for roughly two-thirds (65%) of global gas flaring.”

–Carla Sertin, reporter for Oil&Gas Middle East, on global gas flaring patterns. Gas flaring declined in 2020 by 32% due to an 8% drop in oil production and greater efforts to use the gas. [Oil&Gas Middle East]

“It makes sense for these countries to sell stakes when valuations are good. Some of it is fiscal. Some of it’s a growing recognition of the speed of the energy transition and the need to realize value from these assets.”

-Justin Alexander, chief economist at MENA Advisors, commenting on the marketing of ‘crown jewels’ as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait have all accelerated multi-billion-dollar plans to sell energy assets or issue bonds off the back of them. [Bloomberg]

“Like every family, brothers do not agree 100 percent on all issues and matters. This is similar when it comes to governments…We are in agreement throughout 90 percent of the policy of President Biden and we hope to enhance it one way or another…And for the things we have some differences with them, about 10 percent, we try to neutralize the risk and reach an understanding about them. They are our partners for more than 80 years.”

–Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in an interview marking the 5 year anniversary of Vision 2030 with Al Arabiya, discussing U.S.-Saudi relations. [Full Interview via YouTube]

“When I got this job in 2005, I thought maybe one day solar will supply 1% of the world’s electricity. Now it’s 3%. Our official forecast is that it will be 23% by 2050, but that’s completely underestimated.”

–Jenny Chase, head of solar analysis at BloombergNEF, speaking with Royce Kurmelovs for his article on the rapid development of solar energy which he describes as, “a story about Chinese industrial might backed by American capital, fanned by European political sensibilities and made possible largely thanks to the pioneering work of an Australian research team.” [The Guardian]

“Between now and 2025, and possibly until 2030, fiscal sustainability is a priority for us. We believe that until we achieve all the targets that Vision 2030 has set, we need to maintain fiscal sustainability and control government expenditure.”

–Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Saudi Minister of Finance, discussing the Saudi budget and plans to save close to $200 billion over the next decade by replacing oil used for domestic needs with gas and renewables. [GDNonline]

“The employment rate—the share of the labor force that has a job—of Saudi women has been steadily increasing from 68 to 76 percent between the end of 2018 and 2020; and the female unemployment rate has decreased, from 32 to 24 percent. Maybe even more importantly, this increase in employment was not driven by the government hiring Saudi women.”

-Brookings examined the significant growth since 2018 of Saudi women joining the workforce. [Brookings Institution]